Oil platform explosion in Gulf of Mexico

An oil platform has exploded and caught fire off the Louisiana coast, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months.

All 13 crew members were rescued from the water in protective "Gumby suits."

The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen about 1.5km long and 30 metres wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast, about 200 miles west of the site of BP's massive spill.

But hours later, Coast Guard Commander Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.

The fire has been contained but is not yet extinguished, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard said no one was killed in the explosion and fire, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the site around 9am CDT (2am NZT).

The explosion comes just over four months after the BP-leased rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and setting off a three-month leak that totalled 780 million litres of oil.

CREW RESCUED

All 13 people aboard the rig were rescued as they floated in the nearby water in survival outfits called gumby suits.

"[The rescued workers] had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because beyond getting off the rig there's all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia and things of that nature," Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said.

All were being flown to a hospital in Houma to be checked over. Coast Guard Commander Cheri Ben-Iesau said one person was injured, however Mariner Energy said there were no injuries.

PRODUCTION SHUT DOWN

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said that production from the platform has been shut.

Jindal said senior executives from Mariner Energy told Louisiana officials the flow of oil from the sea floor to the platform had been stopped. The fire seen on the platform was from flammable material in storage on the platform.

"One very, very important lesson Louisiana has learned is you hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Jindal said.

US Coast Guard officials told Jindal they were prepared to use dispersants if an underwater oil spill should develop from the platform.

There were no plans to use dispersants at the present time, he said.

"Mariner has notified and is working with regulatory authorities in response to this incident. The cause is not known, and an investigation will be undertaken," the company said in a statement.

At the moment, the accident does not appear to be another BP-style disaster, said Raoul LeBlanc, a senior director at PFC Energy in Houston.

"If it's an industrial accident and doesn't involve a well it's obviously still bad, and we hope that no one has been hurt, but it's unlikely to have long-term implications for production in the Gulf of Mexico," LeBlanc said.

Earlier reports from the US Interior Department said the platform was undergoing maintenance and was not in active production.

The platform's location, about 160km south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast, was considered shallow water at a depth of 105 metres, much less than the approximately 1500 metres where BP's ill-fated well was.

According to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press, the platform had a production of about 222,575 litres of oil and 25,000 cubic metres of gas per day. The platform can store 15,900 litres of oil.

Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Alabama, Ben-Iesau said.

US GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said US President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting and did not know whether he had been informed of the explosion.

"We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water," Gibbs said.

Mariner Energy focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico. In April, Apache Corp, another independent petroleum company, announced plans to buy Mariner in a cash-and-stock deal valued at US$3.9 billion, including the assumption of about US$1.2 billion of Mariner's debt. That deal is pending.

A company report said the well was drilled in the third quarter of 2008.

On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer, another step toward completion of a relief well that would put a final seal on the well.

- with Reuters

- AP