The California pipeline that ruptured and leaked up to 132,000 gallons of crude into the sea near Newport Beach could have been damaged up to a year ago, according to the Coast Guard.
It is believed that the pipeline was struck by a boat's anchor and dragged 100 feet across the ocean floor.
The pipe was last inspected and seen to be intact last October, officials said.
Video inspection of the pipe shows it has a 13-inch fracture, which has expanded since it was first damaged, Coast Guard captain Jason Neubauer said Friday at a press conference, ABC News reports.
'That has refocused the frame and timeframe of our investigation to at least several months to a year,' Captain Neubauer added.
Captain Neubauer said other ships' anchors could have subsequently struck the steel pipe and that a large section was bowed and dragged across the ocean floor.
The Coast Guard estimates that between 25,000 and 132,000 gallons of oil spilled from the ruptured pipeline off the shores of Orange County, creating a 13-square-mile oil slick in the Pacific.
The Coast Guard could not confirm to DailyMail.com how far the oil spill has spread since.
The US Coast Guard reported the California Pipeline that has spilled thousands of gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean could have damaged months to a year prior to the spill. Coast Guard Capitan Jason Neubauer reported other ships' anchor could have struck the pipe, leading to the 13-inch crack
The pipe (circled in red) was dragged 105 feet away and is bowed after a suspected anchor dragged it across the ocean floor
Roughly 588 barrels (24,000 gallons) of oil have spilled into the ocean, a SoCal Oil Response representative told DailyMail.com. It could not be confirmed how far the oil has spread toward international waters
A SoCal Oil Response representative told DailyMail.com that as of 7.30pm Friday, 5,544 total gallons of crude oil have been recovered by vessels in the area, according to SoCal Oil Response.
A representative told DailyMail.com that they do not know how long it will take to clean up the oil spill.
'There's not much sheening near Long Beach and Newport,' the representative told DailyMail.com.
Oil rig owner Amplify Energy Corporation was notified at 2.30am that the pipeline experienced a drop in pressure and could be a potential spill. The company shut the line down at 6.01am, but did not report an oil spill until 9.07am
A boat made an emergency call to the Coast Guard at 6.13am, reporting oil sheen on the water. Due to bad weather and the Coast Guard's inability to fly aircrafts at night, the oil spill was discovered to initially cover a 13-square-mile radius
ABC reported the oil spill was traveling down the coast toward Mexico, but SoCal Oil Response could not confirm how close the oil spill was to reaching international waters.
An investigation has been launched by the US Coast Guard, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety into the spill and its timeline.
The investigation team will look into a year's worth of automatic identification system data and radar images from multiple sources, officials say.
