By Kevin McGill
New Orleans - A barge slammed into an abandoned well in a coastal inlet early on Tuesday, sending a shower of water, natural gas and oil spewing about 30m into the air.
Emergency officials said about 1 800m of containment boom was in place around the site in a lake just north of Barataria Bay, which has already been fouled by oil from the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
While there was no estimate of how much oil was spewing on Tuesday, officials said the 2km slick it created was small compared with the Gulf spill.
The Coast Guard said the towboat Pere Ana C was pushing the barge on Mud Lake when it hit the wellhead about 1am. No one was hurt.
The towboat captain told investigators the well was not lit as required, Coast Guard Captain John Arenstam said.
The Coast Guard hired Wild Well Control to begin attempts to cap the well later on Tuesday. Another contractor is handling cleanup.
The Coast Guard identified the well owner as Houston-based Cedyco, but authorities said they had been unable to contact the company. Calls to Cedyco by The Associated Press were not returned on Tuesday.
Deano Bonano, a Jefferson Parish emergency management official, said the spill was "minuscule" in comparison to the BP spill that has dumped millions of litres of oil into the Gulf.
Bonano said the accident, which blocked traffic into Barataria Bay, would not stop attempts by cleanup crews to return to the Gulf after a weekend interruption from the remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie.
He said no new oil has reached Barataria Bay from the BP spill in the last three weeks and said boats and equipment could be dispatched from other sites along the Louisiana coast, such as Grand Isle.
Mud Lake is at the northern approaches to Barataria Bay, an ecologically sensitive estuary south of New Orleans. - Sapa-AP