Update: Gulf Oil Platform Explodes

An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday morning in the Gulf of Mexico about 90 miles off the Louisiana coast in block 380, 200 miles west of BP’s Macondo well.

The U.S. Coast Guard received a call from a Bristow helicopter pilot at 9:19 a.m. CST stating there had been an explosion and 13 people were in the water wearing immersion suits.

A nearby offshore supply vessel, Crystal Clear, pulled 13 people out of the water and transported them to a nearby rig.

Thursday afternoon there were reports of a 1-nautical mile by 100-ft sheen on the surface near the platform. However, it was also reported that no oil was leaking and this sheen may have been from the fuel used to power the platform.

Mariner Energy reported that seven wells, 340-ft below the surface, fed into the production platform and they all had been successfully shut in. The company was no longer in the drilling process but rather was in the production process at the time of the explosion, making this a platform explosion not a drilling rig explosion. Last week the platform was producing about 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform also had the capacity to store 4,200 gallons of oil.

The coast guard released the following statement late Thursday:

Seven Coast Guard MH-65C rescue helicopters and crews from Coast Guard Air Stations New Orleans and Houston arrived on scene at approximately 11:30 a.m., and a commercial rescue helicopter, the Cougar, arrived on scene as well. Three of the Coast Guard helicopters and the Cougar transported all 13 people ashore to the Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma, La., where none were reported to have sustained serious injury.

Mariner Energy, the owner of the platform, deployed three firefighting vessels to the scene and extinguished the fire. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft on scene saw no evidence of sheen or leaks, and Mariner Energy reported that the platform had been shut in.

Responders remain vigilant for any evidence of oil on the water, and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft will continue surveillance of the area. The Coast Guard is scheduled to conduct additional searches of the area at first light, Friday, to search for any evidence of sheen.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

Updated: 9/3/10, 8:05 a.m. EST