Fatality on Gulf of Mexico Platform

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is responding to a reported fatality on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

The death occurred on Platform A, Green Canyon Block 18, approximately 150 miles south of New Orleans. 

The offshore oil and gas operator, Whistler Energy II, reported that a worker was fatally injured while working on the platform rig. Robert Wichert, Whistler executive vice president and CEO, told local media that there wasn’t any explosion involved.

All drilling operations have been suspended and will remain suspended until BSEE grants approval for them to resume. As this is a platform rig with production from a separate deck, production has continued.

No pollution or other injuries have been reported. Adverse weather is currently hampering investigations, but as weather permits, BSEE investigators will visit the site.

Whistler Energy was founded in 2012 and established in the Gulf of Mexico in 2013 when the Green Canyon blocks were acquired from an ExxonMobil affiliate and Houston-based W&T Offshore.