There were no signs last night of an oil spill following a fire on an oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy in the Gulf of Mexico.
The crew of 13 escaped following the incident yesterday that brought unwelcome attention to the offshore drilling industry as it is attempts to roll back a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium imposed in the wake of the BP Macondo well disaster, which killed 11 workers and poured 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf.
"The boats and the aircraft on scene cannot see a sheen," US Coast Guard captain Peter Troedsson told a news conference in New Orleans.
Shortly after the fire, Mariner reported there was a mile-long oily sheen on the water around the platform, according to the government. Coast Guard helicopters will today fly over and inspect the platform and surrounding ocean.
The fire burned for several hours before it was extinguished. A company spokesman said it started on an upper deck of the platform where living quarters were located and had not been caused by a "blowout," or sudden release of oil and gas from a well.
The crew, plucked from the Gulf by an oil supply vessel, were transported to a hospital onshore and no injuries have been reported, the company said.
Automated shutoff equipment turned off the flow of oil and gas from the platform's seven producing wells as the crew evacuated, Mariner said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, the company said.
Reuters