As Cat 5 Hurricane Dorian slowly churned across Grand Bahama, it blew the lids off of six massive crude oil tanks, causing a spill on the ground around the area. Now, new photos and video suggest that some of the oil from the facility could have reached the ocean.

The Norwegian energy company that owns and maintains the East Grand Bahama oil storage facility, Equinor, denied any knowledge of the spill leaving land.

In a press release , the company stated, "Our initial aerial assessment of the South Riding Point facility has found that the terminal has sustained damage and oil has been observed on the ground outside of the onshore tanks. It is too early to indicate any volumes. At this point there are no observations of any oil spill at sea."

Hasting Stewart, Equinor's Head of US Media & External Relations, told the Weather Channel that each oil tank is surrounded by a 16-foot-deep moat that protects against spillage, but aerial and ground videos surfacing in Dorian's aftermath showed that such measures did little against the storm's 185 mile-per-hour winds.

Six oil tanks were missing their lids, and two seemed to be overflowing. Nearby, land and water were saturated in inky black sludge.

Sam Teicher, co-founder of Coral Vita, a coral conservation group, was one of the first people on the ground at the site of the spill. "We had to pass it to try and check on folks," he told the Weather Channel. "These white massive containers, many of them were stained with oil, there was oil across the facility. Outside the fence on the ground on the highway, into the grass and the trees on the other side of the highway."

A relief worker described the spill to Brianna Sacks of Buzzfeed News as "a giant black area that’s 5 acres long and all over the ground."

"We've not actually had boots on the ground at the facility as of yet," Stewart said. He said access to the islands was still a challenge.

Meanwhile, possible oil slicks were spotted between the islands of Great Abaco and Nassau and near Grand Bahama, where the oil storage facility is located.

"There’s a lot of oil in the ocean," Jim Abernethy, a conservation photographer told the Weather Channel.

"I saw oil slicks everywhere I went. In between the islands. Whatever way the wind is blowing, there’s oil on the water," Abernethy said.

Abernethy leads shark expeditions in three countries and travels to the Bahamas every 10 days. He calls the Bahamas his “backyard.” On Wednesday he joined up with Eagles Wings Foundation, a relief group, to provide aid and evaluate the condition of the airports in the Bahamas.

“We went straight west across Grand Bahama all the way to the east end of Grand Bahama which is where we first saw the oil spill, and then from there we went to the northeast to the top of the Abaco islands and then proceeded south, zigzagging, doing circles, at low altitude over all these airports specifically, and looking to see if they were clear.”

Abernethy was there to document the state of the northern Bahamas’ airports in the aftermath of Dorian. His photos were also going to be used to help people find their homes. He didn’t expect to find an oil spill staturating the land and spreading out into the ocean.

A satellite imagery nonprofit group noted that the "slicks" could have been vegetation blown into the ocean from the storm. "This stuff is showing up bright red in standard false-color infrared, which suggests it is live or very fresh vegetation," the group tweeted.

However, circumstances made the potential of oil from the spill reaching the ocean compelling.

“The facility is right on the ocean, it’s not inland at all, it is actually on the ocean. So it is not inconceivable that the oil has made its way into the ocean,” Eric Carey, Executive Director of the Bahamas National Trust, told the Weather Channel. “It’s a very serious concern.”

Asked about the reports of oil slicks, Equinor's Hasting Stewart told the Weather Channel, "I'm not aware of that. We're aware of a spill on land, but we're not aware of anything else at this point."

Stewart said that cleanup efforts would begin as soon as possible, but was unable to provide further detail. All 54 of the company's employees based in the Bahamas are accounted for and safe.

Meanwhile, an ESA satellite captured the oil spill from space.