Two Confirmed Dead After Fire on Mexican Pemex Oil Rig

Source: Sputnik

Two workers have died after fire broke out on the Gulf of Mexico's offshore Abkatun A oil platform belonging to the Mexican state-owned oil giant Pemex, the company said Sunday.

One of the employee killed worked for Pemex, while the other worked for Cotemar, a company that provides offshore services to Pemex, the company said later.

"Unfortunately, deaths of two workers in the Abkatun A platform accident are confirmed," the company wrote in a post on its official Twitter account.

Previously, Pemex stated that the fire, which began in the oil rig's compression area, was under control after nine workers were injured and have been transported by air for medical treatment. The need to evacuate the platform did not arise, according to the Twitter feed.

In April 2015, more than 300 workers were evacuated from Abkatun A as it took firefighters almost 17 hours to put out the blaze. Four people were confirmed dead after the fire, while 16 suffered injuries.

Additional Information From Reuters

Two workers were killed and eight were injured when a fire broke out on a Pemex oil processing platform in the Gulf of Mexico, but the latest in a string of incidents is now under control, the Mexican oil giant said via Twitter on Sunday.

A spokesman for Pemex said oil continued to be pumped but that the company was still evaluating any impact on production. The platform did not have to be evacuated, according to a tweet.

The fire occurred on the offshore Abkatun A Permanente processing platform in Mexico's oil-rich Bay of Campeche where a fire claimed seven lives in April of last year, causing crude output from four nearby fields to plunge nearly 70 percent.

Oil exploration and production is one of the most dangerous industries in the world and Pemex has one of the highest injury and fatality rates among oil companies, according to the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP).

In December, five workers were hurt when a fire broke out at the Lazaro Cardenas refinery in Minatitlan in the Mexican Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Casualties of the Sunday fire include one Pemex worker and one employee of Cotemar, a firm based in Ciudad del Carmen that provides offshore services to Pemex, according to its website.