[mnehring]

When drilling, they can hit a pocket of high pressure natural gas. The pressure is higher than the valves can handle so it vents back out. When you have a cloud of natural gas around the rig, even a small spark can set it off.

[allmost]

Do you believe that is what happened?

[silverleaf]

and that is why oil rig explosions and the complete failure of blow out containment systems have been so common .... right