Pipeline leak causes oil spill off Mumbai coast

Indian state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp said Friday a "small" leak on one of its offshore oil and gas pipelines had caused a slick about 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) long off the coast of Mumbai.

"There has been a small leakage in the Mumbai-Uran trunk oil pipeline," a spokesman told AFP, adding that the defect had been discovered at about 08:45 am (0315 GMT).

"Crude production has been diverted to a different pipeline," he added.

The leak is about two kilometres from the Bassein oil and gas field off the western coast of India, about 80 kilometres from Mumbai, the state-run explorer said.

"The initial assessment of extent of oil spill is about one mile long," it added in a statement.