NEW ORLEANS
An oil platform exploded and burned off the Louisiana coast yesterday, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. This time, no one was killed and no oil leaked, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast, about 200 miles west of the source of BP's massive spill. But hours later, Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said that crews were unable to find any spill.
The company that owns the platform, Mariner Energy, based in Houston, said it did not know what caused the explosion.
Mariner officials said that there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly before the fire broke out.
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said that the company told him that the fire began in 100 barrels of light-oil condensate, but officials did not know what sparked the flames.
Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform. Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery. Light smoke could be seen drifting across the deep blue waters of the Gulf.
By late afternoon, the fire on the platform was out.
The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet in which BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion that killed 11 workers.
Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews must depend on remote-operated vehicles to access equipment on the sea floor.
A update from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security obtained by The Associated Press said that the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas a day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.
All 13 of the platform's crew members were rescued from the water. They were found huddled together in life jackets.
The Crystal Clear, a 110-foot boat, was in the Gulf doing routine maintenance work on oil rigs and platforms when it got the distress call. When Capt. Dan Shaw arrived at the scene of the blast, the workers were holding hands in the water, where they had been for two hours.
Crew members were being flown to a hospital in Houma. The Coast Guard said that one person was injured, but Mariner Energy said that there were no injuries. All of them were released by early last night.
Environmental groups and some legislators said that the incident showed the dangers of offshore drilling, and urged the Obama administration to extend a temporary ban on deepwater drilling to shallow water, where this platform was situated.
"How many accidents are needed and how much environmental and economic damage must we suffer before we act to contain and control the source of the danger: offshore drilling?" said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
About 3,400 platforms are operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the America's domestic oil, forming the backbone of the country's petroleum industry.
Platforms are vastly different from such oil rigs as BP's Deepwater Horizon. They are usually brought in after wells are already drilled and sealed.
"A production platform is much more stable," said Andy Radford, an API expert on offshore oil drilling. "On a drilling rig, you're actually drilling the well. You're cutting. You're pumping mud down the hole. You have a lot more activity on a drilling rig."
By contrast, platforms are usually placed atop stable wells where the oil is flowing at a predictable pressure, he said. A majority of platforms in the Gulf do not require crews aboard.
Industry representatives sought to set yesterday's incident apart from the well blowout in April.
"We have on these platforms on any given year roughly 100 fires," said Allen Verret, the executive director of the Offshore Operators Committee.
Federal authorities have cited Mariner Energy and related entities for 10 accidents in the Gulf over the past four years, according to safety records from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
The accidents range from platform fires to pollution spills and a blowout, according to accident-investigation reports from the agency, formerly known as the Minerals Management Service.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement