KEY TAKEAWAYS: 12,600 gallons of crude oil leaked near Louisiana Offshore Oil Port Source secured after offshore mechanical failure; response crews activated immediately 32 vessels and 250 personnel deployed for cleanup and recovery Monitoring ongoing for wildlife and shoreline impacts on barr ier islands   A mechanical failure dumped 12,600 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of America. According to a news release March 3 from Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the company learned of a leak at one of its offshore facilities Feb. 26. The company said it “immediately” secured the leak and has recovered a “substantial” portion of the oil from the Gulf. According to LOOP Director of Planning Wade Tornyos, the platform that the spill came from is 18 miles out from Port Fourchon, and the spill flowed northward with some isolated amounts reaching the barrier island — 18-miles-away. “It kinda stuck together for a while… It went along with the tide, so I couldn’t give you an exact distance, but it mainly made its way north though,” he said. “We had some indications on some barrier islands, so that’s 18 miles.” The cause of the spill was mechanical, and Tornyos said they were confident they found the cause; however, they wanted to do a full investigation of the equipment before they announced anything — in case they found more. He said currently all their resources are focused on the cleanup, and an investigation would be done after the cleanup. “We were able to isolate that whole section, depressurize it, and stop the source within a few minutes,” he explained. “We know what happened. It is very technical, but we sure are going to inspect every last inch of this thing before we start that section back up.” The company has been putting out information about the spill since Feb. 27 on its website, https://www.loopllc.com/resources/announcements, and Tornyos said when he received more information today he would be putting out another update. This article originally appeared on The Courier: Company reports Gulf oil spill 18 miles out from Port Fourchon Reporting by Colin Campo, Houma Courier-Thibodaux Daily Comet / The Courier USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect ...read more read less