Black Elk doesn’t know whether there were any injuries or deaths as a result of the fire, Leslie Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based company, said in a phone interview. Hoffman couldn’t confirm whether it was on a platform or drilling rig. Black Elk is collecting information about the fire and should know more this afternoon, she said.
Black Elk holds stakes in more than 854 wells on 155 platforms off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf, in water depths ranging from less than 10 feet (3 meters) to more than 6,000 feet, according to its website.
Two people are missing after an explosion and fire at a Gulf of Mexico platform owned by Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC. An oil sheen was reported near the scene.
The explosion occurred just before 9 a.m. local time as work was being done on the platform about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana, Drake Foret, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said in a phone interview today. The fire was extinguished, Leslie Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based Black Elk, said in a phone interview.
Twenty-six people worked on the platform, which was not producing oil or natural gas at the time. Eleven injured workers were flown to area hospitals, the Coast Guard said. It corrected an earlier statement that two were killed in the incident. Four platform workers are in critical condition, said Taslin Alfonzo, a spokeswoman for the West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana.
Hi Thack, the only time we ever had leaks or any dangerous situations on a production platform was when it was in maintenance or a crew was doing some installation. Of course jumping onto a bobbing Work Boat in high sea was always a thrill.
Is this Black Elk owner of the old Kerr-McGee production platforms?