Pemex tackles massive fire in Gulf of Mexico after subsea pipeline breach
Mexican oil giant Pemex suffered a breach in a subsea gas pipeline near one of its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, sending flames boiling to the surface in the Gulf waters.
Pemex reported a gas leak occurred at 5.15 hrs local time on Friday, 150 m from the Ku-Maloob-Zaap’s Ku-C satellite platform in the Campeche Sound.
The accident, caught on video showing sights of flames boiling up from below the surface that resembled boiling lava, quickly went viral on social media, causing reactions ranging from doubt to concern.
The company said it had brought the gas leak under control about five hours after the incident and restored normal operating conditions. No injuries were reported.
Ku-Maloob-Zaap is one of Mexico’s most important oil fields, accounting for roughly 40% of Pemex’s daily output.
It remains to be seen if there is any environmental damage that the gas leak and the blaze, described on social media as the ‘eye of fire’, have caused. According to Angel Carrizales, head of Mexico’s safety watchdog ASEA, “the event did not generate any spill.”
Pemex said it would carry out a root cause analysis of this incident.
