It was not immediately known who owns the 154-foot oil barge.

NPR: Blaze Erupts After Tug Hits Pipeline On La. Bayou

LAFITTE, La. (AP) A tug boat pushing an oil barge struck a gas pipeline in a bayou south of New Orleans on Tuesday night, igniting a blaze that burned for hours and left four people injured, one severely.

NPR: Blaze Erupts After Tug Hits Pipeline On La. Bayou

The air also holds a whiff of fuel oil after a barge collision that dumped more than 400, 000 gallons of oil into the Mississippi River.

NPR: Top Of The News

Officials hope to eventually transfer all the oil to another barge in coming days.

NPR: Oil Leak: Miss. River At Vicksburg Remains Closed

An oil spill response barge, the Arctic Challenger, which Shell promised the U.S. Coast Guard was "Arctic ready, " is in Washington state, beset with technical problems.

CNN: Shell Oil's multibillion dollar Arctic hoax

VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) Barges transporting commerce idled among the nearly four dozen vessels stacked up Tuesday along a normally bustling stretch of the Mississippi River, denied transit as crews feverishly sought to clean up leaking oil spilled in a weekend barge accident.

NPR: Oil Leak: Miss. River At Vicksburg Remains Closed

The reserve is supposed to kick in when bad weather disrupts the delivery of oil, which in New England travels by barge and truck instead of pipelines.

FORBES: Strategic Feel-Good Reserve

Then in 2012 Shell faced permitting delays on its Arctic Challenger barge, which is to meant to help capture oil in the event of a Deepwater Horizon-style blowout.

FORBES: Why Shell Should Just Quit Its Alaska Drilling Fiasco