4th UPDATE: Mariner Energy Platform Fire In US Gulf Extinguished
September 02 2010 - 5:07PM
Dow Jones News
A fire aboard an offshore platform owned by Mariner Energy Inc.
(ME), about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay, has been
extinguished after burning for about six hours, the Coast Guard
said Thursday.
Thirteen workers that were sent overboard by an explosion that
occurred about 9:19 a.m. were rescued and are being sent to the
Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma, La. One of the 13
workers was injured and an oily sheen about one nautical mile long
and 100 feet wide was visible from the air, Coast Guard
spokespeople said.
"It has just been reported that the fire is out," said Coast
Guard Chief Warrant Officer Barry Lane told Dow Jones at about 3
p.m. CDT.
Houston-based Mariner Energy said in a press release that no
injuries had been reported, and that no oil or gas was seen spilled
during an initial flyover.
The Mariner Energy platform is one of 634 manned oil-and-gas
platforms operating in the Gulf of Mexico. According to data posted
by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and
Enforcement, the platform, installed in 1980, stands in water 340
feet deep and is manned around the clock. This is much shallower
than the deep-water operations brought into the spotlight recently
by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
An internal report by the agency said that the platform had
about 100 barrels of oil stored on board. A water-blasting and
painting crew was on board the platform when the fire occurred.
In the last week of August, the facility produced a daily
average of 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas--the equivalent of
about 1,600 barrels of oil--and 1,400 barrels of oil and
condensate, according to Mariner, which is the sole owner of the
platform.
The Mariner platform fire comes just over four months after the
explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig
unleashed the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, driving
lawmakers to seek an overhaul of drilling regulations. The
Deepwater Horizon incident, which is costing U.K. oil giant BP PLC
(BP) billions of dollars, also cast doubt on whether smaller oil
companies would be able to handle the expense of responding to
offshore accidents.
Small fires aren't rare on older platforms such as the
Vermillion 380, often occurring when existing wells are being
worked on to boost their capacity, said Ray Kizer, an analyst at
energy consultancy IHS. The Bureau of Ocean Energy reported 133
fires or explosions in the Gulf of Mexico in 2009. It said 130 were
deemed "incidental," each accounting for, at most, $25,000 in
damages; three were classified as "minor," causing damages of
between $25,000 to $1 million.
Mariner crews had been active on the platform from mid-June
until mid-July, according to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
records. Weekly reports submitted by Mariner show the company in
early July reported it was extending the depth of one of the seven
wells attached to the platform.
After falling as much as 16% on the news, Mariner Energy shares
closed down 2.6%, at $22.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. Mariner
said that the cause of the fire wasn't known but would be
investigated.
Apache Corp.(APA), which said in April it would acquire the
company for $2.7 billion, also saw its shares slip, closing down
1.3%.
Apache spokesman Bob Dye said that the company still expects to
close the acquisition of Mariner later this month or in the two
first weeks of October, despite news of the incident. Apache's bid
for Mariner would give it its first foothold in the deep-water Gulf
of Mexico, which in recent years has become a major growth area for
big oil companies.
-By Tennille Tracy, Isabel Ordonez and Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones
Newswires; 202-862-6619; tennille.tracy@dowjones.com
(Jason Womack, Brian Baskin, Cassandra Sweet and The Wall Street
Journal's Jeffrey Ball and Russell Gold contributed to this
article.)
Mariner Energy Inc. (NYSE:ME)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2024 to Oct 2024
Mariner Energy Inc. (NYSE:ME)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2023 to Oct 2024