Spill Incident at Irving Oil Whitegate Refinery, Whitegate, Co. Cork, Licence No. P0266-03
The EPA was notified by Irving Oil Ltd at 19:25 on Monday 22nd January 2024 of a spill of gas oil that occurred at their refinery at Whitegate, Co. Cork. The site operator also notified the Port of Cork, Irish Coast Guard, Cork County Council, the Health and Safety Authority & local businesses.
The operator reported that an inspection at 09:00 on the morning of 22nd January discovered that gas oil had leaked from a small gauge pipe onto a marshy area below it and then into Cork Harbour. A spill response team was mobilised by the operator and the leak was contained by 13:00. The damaged equipment was repaired at 19:00 on Monday evening.
The team also began attempts to recover oil from the marshy area and to minimise the extent of impact to the harbour, beaches and surrounding areas, including by means of containment booms.
On the morning of Tuesday 23rd January, the operator reported that the spill response team is continuing to carry out cleanup operations and are assessing impacts to the shoreline, waterbody and local ecology as a result of the spill.
EPA staff are on site to investigate the incident and to ensure that appropriate corrective actions are put in place to limit the impact of the spill.
Additional information will be provided on the EPA website as further updates are received, and a full site inspection report published when available.
Once our investigations are completed, the EPA will consider further enforcement action in line with our Compliance and Enforcement Policy.
Members of the public are advised not to use the shoreline in the vicinity of Irving Oil until the clean-up has been completed.
Following the spill of gas oil on Monday 22 January, Irving Oil are continuing to conduct cleanup operations in the Whitegate Bay area. The site’s incident response team are reviewing the cleanup plan on an ongoing basis, and the spill response team remains on site. This group includes a team of specialist oil spill response contractors, ecologists and environmental experts to guide the clean-up plan.
Irving Oil are working to determine the quantity of gas oil released during the incident.
Irving Oil have confirmed that the following works have been undertaken in response to the recent gas oil spillage:
The EPA has been engaging with the site daily, and will continue to maintain oversight of progress until the incident is closed.
In the period since our last update to this incident:
Irving Oil has determined that a total of 14.2 m³ of gas oil was lost as part of the leak from the damaged small gauge pipe on 22nd January 2024. Since then, Irving Oil’s Incident Response Team and their specialist spill response contractors have physically recovered an estimated total of 12.5 m³ and returned it to the refinery for reprocessing. The remaining material to be recovered has largely been contained within the marshy area adjacent to Corkbeg Island, within the facility’s boundary.
The spill response teams are continuing to recover the remaining gasoil residues in the Whitegate Bay area with the use of absorbent materials, containment booms and low-pressure washing.
On 23 January, Irving Oil’s ecological consultant commenced a programme of visual assessment and water sampling at shoreline locations around Cork Harbour. Preliminary sample results indicate that water quality in the areas near the spill location continues to improve. This sampling and monitoring programme is continuing.
To date, there have been no observations or reports of any impacts on bird or fish populations in Cork Harbour.
The EPA is continuing to monitor conditions in Whitegate Bay and surrounding areas. Residual oily iridescence remains visible in some areas, depending on wind direction or tide, and occasional hydrocarbon odours have been noted in the area. Air quality continues to be monitored as part of the ongoing investigation.
EPA’s investigation of the incident is continuing. A full report will be issued on completion of the investigation and the EPA will consider further enforcement action in line with our Compliance and Enforcement Policy.
We will continue to provide updates here until this incident is closed.
Irving Oil’s spill response team and contracted oil recovery specialists have continued working to recover the remaining gas oil residues from Corkbeg Marsh and Whitegate Bay. Techniques that continue to be employed include low pressure washing, containment by floating booms and recovery by absorbent materials. These have been successful in containing and recovering oil released in the immediate Corkbeg Marsh area and adjacent zones. Evidence of gasoil (odours and visible sheens) which was released to Whitegate Bay, have significantly diminished.
Water sampling and ecological assessments are continuing at selected locations around Cork Harbour. Recent results of the water quality monitoring work shows that evidence of oil is now effectively restricted to Whitegate Bay. Ecologists have not observed any significant impacts on the aquatic ecology of the shoreline or the Harbour beyond localised coating of seaweed along rocky shoreline areas in Whitegate Bay.
A number of light oil sheens have been reported by local people and by response teams at different locations in the Harbour in the weeks following the spill. While it is not possible to definitely link all such sheens in Cork Harbour to the incident at Irving Oil, the occurrence of sheens in the areas around the facility has significantly reduced over the past number of weeks.
On the shoreline in the vicinity of Irving Oil, there is still some residual oil contamination present, both as sheens on the water and mudflat surfaces and along the rocky intertidal zone. However, with time, this will decrease due to ongoing active remediation by cleanup teams and the natural effects of wind and wave activity. Shoreline users in the vicinity of Irving Oil are advised to continue to avoid areas where sheens, odours and other visible signs of oil are noted, but otherwise the shoreline may again be used, with appropriate vigilance. Members of the public who have concerns or queries relating to the recreational use of waters in the area should contact the HSE and Cork County Council Environment Directorate.
The EPA has initiated a Compliance Investigation or “CI” into the incident on 22 January. This CI addresses the root causes of the spill and directs the operator to take appropriate measures to eliminate the risk of a similar leak in the future. The CI and the operator’s responses to it will form part of the EPA’s Incident Investigation Report.
