Shell shutters rig after drilling fluid leaks into gulf

Royal Dutch Shell says it has shut down a drilling rig off the coast of Alabama following a leak of drilling fluid into the Gulf of Mexico. Shell says 319 barrels of the synthetic and biodegradable fluid leaked from a booster line. The Coast Guard says the leak was reported Sunday and that the line was connected to a vessel supplying the drilling fluid. The Southern Environmental Law Center says the drilling is part of an exploration plan approved by the government in May and challenged in federal court by several environmental groups. Shell says the incident has nothing to do with the wellbore at the site, which is located in the gulf’s Mississippi Canyon region, where the BP oil spill occurred in 2010. The company notes the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement approved a plan to temporarily stop drilling and make repairs. According to a Coast Guard report, the drilling rig operating at the site is the Deepwater Nautilus, owned by Transocean Ltd., which owned the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig that burned, exploded and sank, triggering the months’ long BP spill in 2010. According to Transocean’s website, the Nautilus is drilling in about 8,000 feet of water. Transocean spokesman Guy Cantwell says the company has no further comment.