Divers Identify One-Foot Broken Pipeline as Source of Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico

An oil slick seen south of Port Fourchon, La., on Sept. 2, 2021. Maxar Technologies via AP

Divers searching for the source of an ongoing oil spill in the wake of Hurricane Ida that appeared in the Gulf of Mexico have identified that broken one-foot diameter pipeline displaced from a trench on the ocean floor.

Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued Sunday evening that the burst pipeline does not belong to them.