Nearly a month after the first reports of a spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Secretariat of the Navy detected three possible sources of origin, but the reports are not yet conclusive, so it pointed to a possible failure in the Cantarell infrastructure. At a hastily called press conference this Thursday, Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales said the spill is explained by two natural oil seeps and an illegal discharge from a vessel. The head of the Navy acknowledged that they have not yet found the ship or the people responsible for this spill, as he assured they have not obtained visual evidence, but he assured that the case is already under investigation. He explained that Pemex detected the stain in the anchorage where 13 vessels were, "any of them could have been, we would have to inspect the 13 vessels and their logs," he said. In the oil sector, the theory is growing that the spill in the Gulf was due to a failure in a Pemex pipeline. According to the official report, since March 2, Pemex detected a hydrocarbon spill in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and after an initial investigation, they concluded it was due to an illegal discharge from a vessel in the Coatzacoalcos anchorage. This version had already been spread by President Claudia Sheinbaum, who just two days ago announced the creation of an interdisciplinary group to find out the causes, however, she was questioned by the energy sector due to the levels of hydrocarbons that spread along the coast of Tabasco, Veracruz, and Campeche, affecting the region's fishing activity. This Thursday, the head of the Navy added two other sources of origin: natural oil seeps, one in Coatzacoalcos and another in Cantarell, which he admitted is the most polluting as it intensified this month. In that sense, Morales left open the possibility that it is a problem with the infrastructure of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) as had been warned from the energy sector. At the same conference, Alicia Bárcena, head of Semarnat, assured that no severe damage has been detected, after reporting six affected species, three birds and three turtles. "We have to evaluate if the natural seep has increased or we have a structural failure in some platform," added the admiral, who said they are verifying this possibility on site. Experts consulted in the sector have questioned the thesis that the spill that extends over 600 kilometers along the coast of the states of Campeche, Tabasco, and Veracruz, can be explained by a spill from a ship, as they assure it does not correspond to the reported volumes. In that sense, the specialists agree that a viable possibility is that it was a leak in a pipeline, in the midst of the budget cuts that the state-owned company led by Octavio Rodríguez is facing. For now, the government has minimized the consequences of the spill. "There are some affected specimens, but there are no more for the moment," he said.
