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Investing.com – Amplify Energy stock (NYSE:AMPY) plunged 62% in Monday’s premarket trading after a large spill from an oil platform operated by a subsidiary was found off the southern California coast.
Amplify Energy Chief Executive Martyn Willsher said Beta Offshore’s production has been shut off and any remaining oil in the pipeline suctioned off.
The leak has forced the shutdown of Huntington Beach, about 40 miles south of Los Angeles, and scheduled activities in the region.
According to Reuters, an estimated 3,000 barrels had spread into an oil slick covering about 13 square miles of the Pacific Ocean since it was first reported on Saturday morning.
Kim Carr, the mayor of Huntington Beach, called the spill an “environmental catastrophe” and a “potential ecological disaster”.
The spill was caused by a breach connected to the Elly oil rig and stretched down to Newport Beach, an area popular with surfers and sunbathers.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife ordered a fishery closure for coastal areas affected by the spill.
The closure will extend from Huntington Beach to Dana Point for the coastal areas, and it will extend up to six miles off the coastal points for the offshore area, the department said.
