Post by duke on Sept 2, 2010 16:55:17 GMT -5
Fire Extinguished On Oil Platform In Gulf
by NPR Staff and Wires
September 2, 2010
A fire on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico has been extinguished, the owner of the rig said Thursday.
The platform, about 100 miles south of the Louisiana coast, exploded Thursday morning. All 13 people aboard were rescued from the water in the second such disaster in the Gulf in less than five months.
Mariner Energy, the owner of the rig, said the cause of the fire remains unknown and that an investigation is under way.
The Coast Guard initially reported an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the fire, about 200 miles west of the site of BP's massive spill. But officials said at a Thursday afternoon news conference that boats at the platform have not seen any oil sheen.
Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the site of the Vermillion Oil Platform. The location is west of a site where a BP oil rig exploded in April, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
All 13 people aboard the rig were found floating in the water, Chief Petty Officer John Edwards of the Coast Guard said.
readersupportednews.org/off-site-news-section/49-49/3191-breaking-oil-rig-explodes-in-gulf-of-mexico
by NPR Staff and Wires
September 2, 2010
A fire on an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico has been extinguished, the owner of the rig said Thursday.
The platform, about 100 miles south of the Louisiana coast, exploded Thursday morning. All 13 people aboard were rescued from the water in the second such disaster in the Gulf in less than five months.
Mariner Energy, the owner of the rig, said the cause of the fire remains unknown and that an investigation is under way.
The Coast Guard initially reported an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the fire, about 200 miles west of the site of BP's massive spill. But officials said at a Thursday afternoon news conference that boats at the platform have not seen any oil sheen.
Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the site of the Vermillion Oil Platform. The location is west of a site where a BP oil rig exploded in April, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
All 13 people aboard the rig were found floating in the water, Chief Petty Officer John Edwards of the Coast Guard said.
readersupportednews.org/off-site-news-section/49-49/3191-breaking-oil-rig-explodes-in-gulf-of-mexico