Spilled: About 88,200 gallons of oil leaked from a Shell flow line into the Gulf of Mexico about 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the U.S. Coast Guard says. The Associated Press reports Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash says the leak, which was reported Thursday, had been secured and cleanup crews dispatched. In a prepared statement, Shell spokeswoman Kimberly Windon says a helicopter saw an oil sheen near the Glider subsea tieback system at Shell’s Brutus platform shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday. Officials are investigating the cause of the leak, which Windon says is likely caused by a release of oil from a line connecting four wells in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf to the platform and has left a miles-long sheen. No injuries have been reported. Shell officials reported the spill and say it has shut the wells flowing into the line.
New job: The Albemarle Corp. has a new chief administrative officer. The Baton Rouge-based company announced today that it Karen G. Narwold has been promoted to executive vice president and chief administrative office, effective immediately. She served as senior vice president, general counsel, corporate & government affairs and corporate secretary. In her new role, Narworld will leads the company’s legal, government and regulatory affairs, IT, humans resources and communications groups. She joined Albemarle in 2010.
New competition: Walmart’s ShippingPass e-commerce subscription program will begin offering delivery in two days, rather than three, escalating competition with Amazon Prime. Bloomberg reports the retailer also is cutting the price of the program by $1 to $49 a year, according to a statement issued Thursday. Amazon Prime costs $99 annually, though it also offers other perks such as free movies and TV shows. ShippingPass, still in a pilot phase, lets Walmart customers get free delivery of more than 1 million products via its website. The idea is to encourage frequent shopping and lock in customers—something Amazon Prime has achieved with its tens of millions of members. Read the full story.
