AmericasOffshore

Pemex says deliveries will still be met despite fatal fire on platform

Mexico City: Pemex said on Thursday that it expects to still be able to meet deliveries despite Wednesday’s fatal explosion and fire on its offshore rig, the Abkatun Permanente.

Four workers, of the Cotemar contractor firm, died in the blaze on the shallow water oil-processing platform offshore from Ciudad del Carmen in the state of Campeche. Two others suffered life-threatening injuries and several leaped into the waters before being rescued. All told, about 300 were evacuated from the site.

The fire was extinguished after hours of efforts by ten firefighting emergency vessels.

An official for Mexico’s state-run petroleum company, properly called Petroleos Mexicanos, said Pemex will redirect crude output at rigs to other processing facilities, thus not missing any commercial commitments.

The company also confirmed its Wednesday Twitter statement that there was no serious pollution spillage resulting from the incident. On Thursday it explained that environmental damage was avoided because the fire happened on a processing platform where the feeder lines could be turned off, rather than at an active oil well with a virtually unlimited amount of fuel flowing up from the seabed.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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