US Coast Guard investigating oil spill off California coast

HOUSTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday were trying to identify the source of an oil spill off the coast of Huntington beach, California, the agency said.

The sheen, estimated at 2.5 miles (4 km) in length and 0.5 miles (800 meters) in width, was discovered after a Coast Guard helicopter flew over the site at sunrise.

The spill is located roughly 2.8 miles (4.5 km) off Huntington Beach, near two oil drilling platforms but it was unclear whether either were the source of the spill, according to the Coast Guard's statement.

Beta Offshore, a subsidiary of Amplify Energy Corp, reported a potential spill of produced water from its offshore Platform Elly off Huntington beach on Friday, according to a regulatory filing, causing the company to shutdown a pipeline.

It was unclear whether that incident was related to the large oil sheen spotted by the Coast Guard on Friday.

"At this time, we have no indication that this sheen is related to our operations", Amplify Energy Core said in a statement.

(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Sandra Maler)

By Georgina McCartney