Posted on 04/01/2015 9:56:45 AM PDT by thackney
Wednesday morning, social network users reported a fire on the dwelling platform Abkatun Alfa located in Mexico's oil-rich Bay of Campeche.
According to local media reports, the Abkatun Alpha is a dwelling platform purposed for housing personnel working offshore in the Bay of Campeche. Early reports also indicate it is owned by a private firm subcontracted by Pemex. Preliminary information indicates a failure in operation processes caused the fire.
The incident prompted the evacuation of the platform. Some injuries were also reported. The injured were transported via helicopter from the rig to hospitals in Ciudad del Carmen.
One death, 48 injured.
1 dead, 16 injured in Gulf of Mexico oil rig fire
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/gulf-mexico-oil-rig-catches-fire-300-workers-evacuated-article-1.2169496
One person was killed and 16 were injured after an oil rig burst into flame in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday, Mexico’s state-run oil company said.
The Abkatun platform, which sits in the middle of Campeche Bay, erupted in fire in the early morning and forced the evacuation of nearly 300 workers, Pemex said.
Two people were in serious condition as the injured were treated at a hospital in Ciudad del Carmen.
A city emergency services spokesman contradicted Pemex’s account and said at least 45 people were injured, RT News reported.
The person killed was a contractor, Pemex said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the blaze started as eight firefighting boats tried to extinguish it.
I would think sabotage before I thought of a wayward cigarette.
I doubt a cigarette, but decades of working in the oil/gas industry has taught me fires are far too common. Spread of fire to this extent is more rare, but then, this is Pemex and has a rather bad history for safety.
Several deadly accidents have occurred at Pemex facilities in recent years. In September 2012, a leak at a Pemex pipeline near the U.S. border exploded, killing 29 and injuring 46. In 2013, 32 people died and 121 were injured in a gas explosion at Pemex’ headquarters in Mexico City.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/04/01/pemex-platform-fire-kills-one-worker-injures-45/
Also I’m sure this did not help the operations and maintenance budgets after the decline in oil prices for Pemex.
Pemex bondholders are growing concerned over the company’s financial health after the Mexican government took $3.4 billion from the state owned explorer and producer late last month.
The Finance Ministry said it withdrew the funds on December 26 to “make management of public-sector finances more efficient” as the country braces itself for production declines and low oil prices.
I just looked across the street Gas station guy out there with a big pole raising prices
Maybe we can reverse one of those Mexican Pipelines for a couple months and draw down some of our overflowing stocks?
Probably not, as we get heavy sour from them and have an production increase in light sweet.
Maybe the cost of Caribbean cruises will drop some now.
Because they won’t stop at this Campeche oil production platform?
“dwelling” platform or drilling platform?
There is a shipyard here in my hometown that has built a number of the oil rig tenders like those that are trying to put out the fire. I took a tour through a couple of them. Very interesting.
The first report I found said dwelling. Pictures are clearly a production platform.
Mexico.
Updated reports now say 4 dead.
http://www.epmag.com/fire-claims-four-lives-pemex-platform-bay-campeche-789491
Pemex has confirmed the deaths of four workers after a fire broke out April 1 at its Abkatun-A platform in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche.
The fire forced the evacuation of about 300 workers.
In a new release, Pemex said 16 workers were injured, and two of these were reportedly in serious condition. However, Reuters—citing local emergency services—reported that as many as 45 people were injured. Pemex said via Twitter that the accident claimed the lives of four workers.
The fire started in the dehydration and pumping area of the platform, Pemex said. However, it was not immediately known what caused the fire.
Is there a spill?
5.56mm
Not reported so far. Hard to believe there would not be some, at least some after they get the fire out.
Dwell Here! Dwell Now!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.