Authorities investigate damage after Newfoundland’s largest ever oil spill

250,000 litres of crude oil spilled from a flowline to the “FPSO SeaRose” last Friday into the coast.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s (Candada) authorities are demanding answers from energy company, Husky Energy, after the largest oil spill in the province’s history, took place on Friday according to CBS.

250,000 litres spilled from a flowline 350 kilometres off the Newfoundland coast, when the “Searose” floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) tried to restart oil production on Friday after a vicious storm – which was recorded as the strongest on Earth world that day – the day before.

The spill is equivalent to one-tenth of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, equivalent to 1,572 barrels of oil, 125,000 bottles of water and 704,225 cans of pop according to the publication.

According to the C-NLOPB, six vessels are in the area about 350 kilometres south-southeast of St. John’s, monitoring for effects and have discovered four oiled birds so far.

A ROS vehcile is currently investigating the current state of the SeaRose to asses if it’s still spilling into the ocean.

With over 17,000 kilometres of coastline, NL has extensive open areas of water ideally suited for aquaculture. Salmon farming there occurs along the south coast of the province.

The spill is around 350 km from St. Johns, where NL largest salmon farmer, Cooke Aquaculture, has its HQ. The salmon farmer has been contacted for comment.

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