A fire in the sea off the coast of the state of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico was extinguished during the morning of Friday, according to the state oil company Pemex through a statement , after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline caused the fire that went viral on social media .
Fire over the sea
“An eye of fire ”bright was formed on the side of one of the platforms of the Ku Maloob Zaap oil development, which is the most important of the company since more than 40% from its almost 1.7 million barrels of daily Mexican oil production.
Although no injuries were recorded, production was affected after the leak caused the fire at 5: 15 am and that it was extinguished at 10: 30 hours.
# Find out | Valve bursts in the submarine line in the area of marine platforms of @ Pemex , the fire in the Ku Sierra field in the Gulf of Mexico .
Follow us here 👇🏽 https://t.co/UCTcHRGDsT pic.twitter.com/0M6EJ87 m7F
– El Heraldo de Tabasco (@heraldodetab)
July 2, 2021
According to the company the origin of the fire was due to the damage left by “an electrical storm and heavy rains.”
Three ships participated in the control work to douse the flames, as well as expert divers in accident control who will be in charge of the repair and of the closing of the valves that are located at 78 meters deep.
# Pemex reports that a gas leak was registered in an underwater pipeline with the presence of fire in the sea, at 150 metr of the KU-C satellite platform, belonging to the Ku-Maloob-Zaap Production Asset. The fire was extinguished at 10: 45 am. https://t.co/EoNsfI4Pxv pic.twitter.com/SsenwknnVO
– Petróleos Mexicanos (@Pemex) July 2, 2021
Lack of maintenance at Pemex
Pemex has a long history of industrial accidents in its facilities that have been indicated by the Superior Audit of the Federation.
The most recent fire occurred on 20 April in the Pajaritos petrochemical complex in the state of Veracruz where they were evacuated at least 200 people and where five years ago an explosion caused the death of 32 people who released a large amount of chemicals into the air.
On April 7, a storage tank caught fire at the Minatitlán refinery leaving 7 people injured .
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The 31 from December to 2020 the company registered an oil spill and another fire at the Dos Bocas maritime terminal in the state of Tabasco that had been reported for lack of maintenance.
The state company reported that it will investigate the cause of the fire that in addition to environmental consequences represents a latent danger for the personnel working in the Mexican oil company that adds to the overcrowded conditions in which the workers rest, which has caused that until the month of February a total of 472 employees and 15 contractors died of COVID victims – 19 , according to a Bloomberg report.
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