About 100 gallons of a liquid solvent called Sulfolane W flowed into the ocean after a leak about midnight Tuesday at an Exxon plant near El Capitan Canyon, according to Santa Barbara County fire officials.

Plant officials quickly reported that the Sulfolane W had been released from the Popco Oil and Gas processing plant, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

Fire officials said that there was no threat to employees or the public.

Sulfolane is used in stripping hydrogen sulfide gas from other gases. It has low levels of toxicity and flammability, according to county fire officials.

A mechanical failure of a gasket on an extractor unit appeared to be the cause, plant officials said.

About 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, an employee noticed a leak coming from a flange on a gas processing exchanger unit and immediately started the plant?s shut-down procedure, according to officials. That likely helped minimize the amount of product spilled, plant officials said.

Other plant workers closed a weir gate in Corral Creek in an attempt to contain the contaminated water, officials said. However, there was too much creek runoff because of the rain storm, and some of the water-soluble Sulfolane W traveled down the creek into the ocean.

The leak was stopped, and general plant operations restarted.