The fire that broke out on the Petróleos Mexicanos' (PEMEX) Abkatún Permanente platform, causing the death of four workers and several injuries, was extinguished late last night (1 April).
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The Abkatún Permanente platform after the fire, still standing. Image from PEMEX Twitter. |
PEMEX said that the fire did not cause an oil spill, only a hydrocarbon runoff that is being addressed with specialized vessels, and that the smoke seen from the fire is of crude oil that was in the pipeline.
The company also released a photo of the remaining, standing platform last night (pictured right), after false reports from several people of the platform collapsing.
The fire on the Abkatún Permanente platform in the Bay of Campeche, offshore Mexico, began in the early morning hours of 1 April, and is responsible for four deaths and several injuries.
In a statement on the company’s website, PEMEX CEO Emilio Lozoya confirmed that a total of 301 workers were evacuated from the burning Abkatún platform and that all have been accounted for. Forty-five people received some type of medical treatment; two of those were still in critical condition and were transferred to Mexico City to receive specialized care.
Lozoya also said that there would be minimal impact on production due to the fact that the incident occurred on a processing platform, rather than a production platform. He also said that the hydrocarbons that were received from nearby wells will be sent to other processing centers.
PEMEX will continue to work with the Mexican National Agency of Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection (la Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Industrial y de Protección al Medio Ambiente del Sector Hidrocarburos (ASEA)) to determine the cause of the fire.
The Mexican national company confirmed the fire on its Twitter page on 1 April at about 11 a.m. CST. At that time only one Cotemar was reported dead and 16 workers injured. However, both the death and injured toll increased to four and 45, respectively.
Abkatún is part of PEMEX's Abkatún-Pol-Chuc complex, that is located 132km northeast from the Port of Dos Bocas between the states of Campeche and Tabasco. Production at the light oil fields began in 1980.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, production from Abkatún-Pol-Chuc has declined from its mid-1990s peak levels, when output exceeded 700,000 b/d. Production was only reported to be under 300,000 b/d in 2013.
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