AP:
NEW ORLEANS, La. – A mile-long oil sheen spread Thursday from an offshore petroleum platform burning in the Gulf of Mexico off Lousiana, west of the site of BP's massive spill.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy Inc.
Information is still scarce, though the presence of the sheen does not necessarily indicate an ongoing leak. La. Gov. Bobby Jindal says that he's been told the well has been "shut in" which would suggest that no oil or gas should be flowing through it. If that's the case, the sheen could have come from a storage tank on the platform. According to an expert on CNN, the total spill from such a storage tank could be as many as 1,000 barrels, but unlike the BP disaster, would be finite -- assuming that the well is in fact shut in.