An offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.
A commercial helicopter company reported the blast around 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats were en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.
The Coast Guard said initial reports indicated all 13 crew members from the rig were in the water. One was injured, but there were no deaths.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Yesterday I was on the phone with my Rabbi, who was asking me for data bout the BP oil spill and wanted to know whether there was any connection to peak oil. I told him that there certainly is - the BP oil spill is in many measures a consequence of a society under deep pressure to develop every…
by Elizabeth Grossman
When the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 of the 126 workers on board and critically injuring three, the ruptured Macondo well - located nearly a mile beneath the sea surface about 50 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana - unleashed what has…
The following information is cribbed (with permission) from a FACTBOX produced by S&P Global Platts. Petroleum companies in the Gulf, especially around Houston, are are responding to likely shutdowns or possible damage due to the strengthening Hurricane, which is expected to have its largest…
by Elizabeth Grossman
As of Saturday afternoon, May 29th, ten oil spill clean-up workers had been admitted to West Jefferson Medical Center (WJMC) in Marrero, Louisiana. All but two have been hospitalized suffering from chest pains, dizziness, headaches, and nausea. One crewmember admitted on the…
are you fucking kidding me?
Washington Post:
"An offshore oil rig exploded Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico, injuring at least one worker, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
All 13 people on board the Vermilion Oil Rig 380 have been accounted for, and the one who was injured is being transported to a hospital, Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said.
The rig is believed to be on fire, Colclough told CNN in a live telephone interview. He said it has not yet been determined whether there is a leak as a result of the explosion.
Multiple Coast Guard, Navy and civilian vessels are en route to the site of the explosion west of the location of the April 20 blast on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that caused a massive oil spill.
The latest blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company about 10:30 a.m. EDT Thursday, the Coast Guard said.
Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast, the Associated Press reported. "
Reportedly the well was inactive. It may have been one of the non-producing wells that are supposed to be sealed but which usually are not. They may have been trying to seal it when it broke.
It could be a big spill in that case.
Apparently the fire's pretty much under control now. The wells were all sealed, so there's no leakage. There's some reports of an oil 'film', which doesn't sound good, but it's probably whatever's in the on-rig tanks.
Speaking of expolosions and bad things happening, why are the liberals at science blobs ignoring the far left radical global warming fanatic that strapped bombs to himself and held hostages at the Discovery Channel building? Al Gore should be proud. He converted a normal person into a eco-terrorist. Sadly, there are thousands more like him all over the place. What I do not understand is why he had handguns. I though people that far left wanted handguns banned. Oh well. I guess they just want to ban them for the normal eople while they terrorize America. I wonder if the SWAT teamed shot the little punk with an environemntally friendly lead free bullet or just said screw it and shot him full of global warming causing lead. It would be funny to find out they used lead on him. Hmm. Makes me wonder. I wonder if his handguns (which he probably protested being legal for everyone else) had lead free bullets? Probably not. Just another left wing hippycrit eco-terrorist. Speaking of eco-terrorism, I hear Europe's light bulb nazis are in full force this week.
Shorter Jerry, the creationist and all-around right-wing nutcase @5:
OMG!! Teh AlGore haz cauzed dizasters!!!!! I haz pruf!!!!
The real world in response:
Please start taking your meds again...
From the NPR article Greg linked, it was a producing platform, though it's not clear if it was operating at the time of the explosion. The impression I get is not.
In contrast to the BP disaster, this sounds almost like a success story. Don't get me wrong; not blowing up would have been better, but it sounds like safety procedures were followed, and to great effect. The only oil spilled, I'm guessing, is whatever was in the platforms storage and possibly the last segment of pipe before the pump.
It's great that nobody was killed. There a couple of mistakes the media made on the story; #1 It is a production platform (rig connotes a drill) #2 It is a gas well, so very little oil is brought up to the surface. This is not to say some gas wells don't produce a little petroleum. Sorry. I grew up in Dallas and was immersed in oil and gas from an early age.
The extraction industries didn't get the reputation for rape and run for no reason. The Feds and States need to keep their second biggest boot on the necks of these companies. The first biggest boot belongs to the necks of the Financial "Industry".