M/V ALVENUS: ANATOMY OF A MAJOR OIL SPILL1

Abstract

ABSTRACT At 12:36 p.m. on July 30, 1984, the United Kingdom tank vessel Alvenus grounded with catastrophic structural failure in the Calcasieu River Bar Channel about 11 nautical miles south-southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, creating the largest oil spill from a ship ever encountered in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel's hull buckled and fractured vertically on both the port and starboard sides and across the tank tops in way of its No. 2 port, center, and starboard cargo tanks. Between July 30 and August 4, 1984, the Alvenus discharged approximately 2.7 million gal of viscous Venezuelan Merey and Pilon crude oil into international waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Attempts to contain and recover the oil at sea were rendered ineffective by rough seas and the magnitude of the spill. A well-defined 75-mile slick of oil traveled west from the Alvenus for over 100 miles, arriving on Texas beaches on August 3 and 4 between the town of Gilchrist, and San Luis Pass at the west end of Galveston Island. Beach cleanup crews were reasonably prepared for the massive influx of oil and were able to remove the oil with only minimal environmental damage. Sensitive inland estuaries were spared by a combination of chance (the oil passed inlets during ebb tides) and prestaged booms. However, economic damage was great, since Galveston's resort beaches were heavily oiled during the height of the tourist season. Damage to the vessel was extensive and estimated at $4.9 million by the vessel's owner. Loss of cargo was estimated at approximately $1.7 million at $26.00 a barrel. The Coast Guard and cleanup crews encountered a major problem when a large portion of the slick approached the shoreline, absorbed suspended solid particles, and sank in the nearshore surf zones at Galveston Island. No effective method of collecting the oil in the submerged state was discovered. Cleanup crews had to wait until the oil beached itself, a process that took several weeks