Shell working on repairs after Gulf of Mexico spill

NEW ORLEANS, May 17 (UPI) -- A fleet of vessels was deployed in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and repair work is underway in response to the spill of 2,100 barrels of oil, Shell said.

Shell reported the release from its Glider field about 100 miles south of the coast of Louisiana last week. The company said about 2,100 barrels of oil spilled and crews so far have recovered about 2,000 barrels of an oil-water mixture from the water's surface.

In its latest update, Shell said there are five vessels on site working with Shell and the U.S. Coast Guard to recover oil from the surface. One vessel is designated specifically to asses any potential environmental impact from the release.

"There have been no reported impacts to the coastline or fisheries," the company said in a statement.

Shell last week said a pipeline associated with the Glider field that was connected to a drilling platform in the area was identified as the source of the release. The line is isolated and Shell said it had consent from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to start removing and securing the damaged section of the pipeline.

The BSEE is in charge of the investigation. The agency said it set up a seven-member panel to identify the underlying issues that led to the release.

"The focus of these recommendations is to prevent a similar incident from occurring," the BSEE said in a statement.

The incident was not related to a well control incident. A series of failures at the Macondo well beneath the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico left 11 workers dead and resulted in the release of 3.2 million barrels of oil in April 2010.

Shell said some of its nearby operations are returning to normal production.