Egypt Oil Spill From Leaking Offshore Rig

CAIRO -- Egypt's government confirmed Monday that oil has leaked from one of several rigs operating off the coast of the Red Sea resort Hurghada.

Government spokesman Magdy Rady said the amount was "limited," but he did not say how much. He said the spill was detected last week and has now been largely contained, according to comments carried by the official Middle East News Agency.

Oil company officials in the port city of Suez said the spill was caused by a leak from an offshore oil platform in Jebel al-Zayt north of Hurghada and has polluted about 100 miles (160 kilometers) of coastline including tourist beach resorts. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hurghada is one of Egypt's top tourist destinations and the government kept quiet about the leak for days. The silence could be a sign of concern that the leak might scare away tourists -- a vital source of income for Egypt.

Comments

[tyger]

10:38 PM on 06/23/2010

Big oil is going to be the death of us all if we don't move to safer and cleaner energy. Pretty soon Mad Max roaming the desecrated earth will be the norm. Of course by that time the rich can go live on the moon and leave the little people to fight over the shrinking resorces.

[tyger]

10:44 PM on 06/23/2010

resources, I meant

[seachange525]

07:00 PM on 06/23/2010

WHY do we focus on the ECONOMIC implicatio­ns and not the environmen­tal HORROR?

[NWBrunette]

09:14 PM on 06/22/2010

"...has polluted about 100 miles (160 kilometers­) of coastline including tourist beach resorts," but the government says the spill is "limited". Sheesh. Sounds like the good ol' US of A.

[IcemanXTS]

04:45 PM on 06/22/2010

More Spill, Baby, Spill?! What is going on with the world and why can't we get ourselves off this sick addiction?

[siafu]

04:20 PM on 06/22/2010

At least the recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico has caused oil spills in other parts of the world, which happen frequently and rarely make any headlines at all, to show up in the news. As with the Exxon Valdez, however, it's just as likely that this interest will peter after a year or so when the cleanup efforts start to wind down.

[Roger DiPaolo]

12:00 PM on 06/22/2010

FLOWIN’ IN THE GULF

How many roads must a man drive down, before you call him a man?
How many seas must a pelican sail, before she can sleep in clean sand?
Yes and how many times must oil be spilled, before it is forever banned?

Refrain:

The answer my friend, is flowin’ in the gulf,
The answer is flowing in the gulf.

Yes and how many years can an oil rig exist, before it fails you and me?
Yes and how many years can some people exist, in a world of dying seas?
Yes and how many many times can you turn your head, and pretend that you just don’t see?

(Refrain)

Yes and how many times must a man look up, before he can see a clear sky?
Yes and how many ears must one man have, before he can hear seabirds cry?
Yes and how many deaths will take till he knows, that too many creatures have died?

(Refrain)

------
A free gift to the world, sing and spread widely....­.
Credit for inspiratio­n to Bob Dylan, and credit for the subject matter to Big Oil.

[seachange525]

07:07 PM on 06/23/2010

Roger, I've been putting my pain into writing, too:

Sing to 'My Country, 'tis of thee/God save the Queen':

Sweet planet, noble earth,
Home of our common birth;
Teach us to be
Generous of heart and hand
Caring for seas and land;
One single human band
Learning to be free.

Free from the fears that breed
Intoleranc­e and greed.
Show us instead
How to clean up our mess,
Face our faults and redress
Our wrongs in humbleness
Meeting all our needs.

Help us to dare and dream,
To be more than we seem,
Teach us to share.
Open each heart and mind;
Teach us how to be kind;
Til one day we wake up to find
Heaven everywhere­.

[Damien 666]

01:18 AM on 06/22/2010

It is probably less confusing and simpler if the media reported on the ocean oil rigs that are not leaking oil?
WAKE UP America ! Easy oil is over and 'peak oil' is very near. Time to start making some sacrifices and embrace a carbon tax NOW. The solutions will follow....

[Tom Czubernat]

11:58 PM on 06/21/2010

Folks, this happens all the time. Just Google "oil leak" and go to the news listings . . . and just keep scrolling.

[tjconkster]

10:32 PM on 06/21/2010

Oh come on...what'­s wrong? I mean what's a little oil in such a huge ocean....

(sarcasm)

[ColinStevens]

10:25 PM on 06/21/2010

Five oil spills in the last 8 weeks...me­anwhile, the wrong wingers continue to say: RARE OCCASION. NEVER HAPPENS.

[outnow]

09:19 PM on 06/21/2010

Keith Olbermann reported today that 48% of BOPs failed. This is the fail safe mechanism cited by Tony Hayward??!­!! It is safer for the world for Tony to be sailing - something he understand­s.

Robert Redford was on Countdown today. The BP disaster is a wakeup call. If the spill happens in Egypt, many think "no big deal." They don't have to see the marine life die and the beaches fouled with oil and tar.

Driving a wedge between government and big oil will be like driving a stake into a vampire's heart. Both are hopelessly codependen­t.

[whychooseaside]

08:59 PM on 06/21/2010

Another leak problem found from around the world. Every country should investigat­e these wells.

[Kurt Mundt]

08:34 PM on 06/21/2010

When one's not enough!

[emmanuel goldstein]

07:54 PM on 06/21/2010

I wonder how much oil is "spilled", worldwide, every day...

[Ness38]

06:35 AM on 06/22/2010

Obviously this is happening ALL the bloody time. We just had one in the Timor Sea off the north western coast of Australia and the media completely underplaye­d it.

"The Australian Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism estimated that the Montara oil leak could be as high as 2000 barrels/da­y, five times the 400 barrels/da­y estimated by PTTEP Australasi­a.[7] After flying over the spill site, Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert claimed the spill was far greater than had originally been reported.[­8] WWF-Austra­lia also claimed that the spill was worse than originally expected."

Sound familiar??­?? It terrifies me what is happening to our oceans...a­nd now the aussie govt has approved offshore oil leases 80kms from one of WA's most beautiful tourist and surfing destinatio­ns while this Gulf of Mexico environmen­tal terrorism is occurring. Only 1% of WA's unique marine environmen­t is protected. What hope do we collective­ly have?

I'm not feeling too positive about the future of humanity at the moment...i­ts almost like we are trapped in an oil nightmare that we dont have the strength or ability to break through. Our elected leaders act in their own interests and our planet and oceans continue to get raped and treated like a toilet bowl......

[nexxtep54]

07:53 PM on 06/21/2010

This will not divert attention away from the largest ecological disaster in recorded history. Maybe they should try one of these http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=UP8iN4ZX1­JU&feature­=channel to prevent further messes. The Arabic people are known to be good environmen­tal stewards.