Another Oil Rig Explodes in the Gulf – Update – Oil Spreading

This isn’t good. Another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf.

WAFB.com: The Coast Guard is responding to another oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the Coast Guard, 13 people were onboard when it exploded and caught fire Thursday morning.

Everyone is accounted for. Officials are reporting one injury.

The injured worker is being taken to Terrebonne General Medical Center.

The other workers are in the water in immersion suits.

The rig is located about 90 miles south of Vermilion Bay.

The environmental impact is unknown at this point. The report indicates that the well is non-producing so let’s hope that means there won’t be another oil spill. That’s the last thing the folks in the Gulf region need. They’re economy is already under assault by this administration.

Update: 4:45 PM ET – It looks like initial reports may have been incorrect, and some of the wells were active. Also, AP reports that there is a mile long sheen of oil near the explosion.

The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the blast, which was reported by a helicopter flying over the area. Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Mariner officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out.

Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform. Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery. Light smoke could be seen drifting across the deep blue waters of the gulf.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana’s Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP’s well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion.

Since this rig is in shallow water, any clean up efforts will be less complicated than they were with the BP spill.

Tags: explosion, gulf, oil, rig

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 am and is filed under oil spill. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.