Explosion on Gulf oil rig leaves 4 hurt, 2 missing
VENICE, La. (AP) - An explosion and fire ripped through a Gulf oil platform Friday as workers used a cutting torch, sending four people to a hospital with burns and leaving two missing in waters off Louisiana.
Coast Guard Capt. Ed Cubanski told a news conference in New Orleans the well was not producing at the time and no oil was leaking. A small amount of oil spilled from the rig when workers using a torch cut into a 75-foot-long, 3-inch-wide line on the platform. Cubanski said a sheen one-half mile long and 200 yards wide was reported in the area.
"It's not going to be an uncontrolled discharge from everything we're getting right now," Cubanski said.
The fire had since been extinguished, said Coast Guard spokesman Drake Fore. He said Coast Guard aircraft and boats were searching for two missing people. Nobody was believed killed in the fire.
Taslin Alfonzo, spokeswoman for West Jefferson Medical Center in suburban New Orleans, said four injured workers were brought to the hospital in critical condition with second- and third-degree burns over much of their bodies. Three arrived by helicopter at 9:55 a.m. and one by helicopter at 10:10 CST.
Two were sent by ambulance to the Baton Rouge Burn Center. Two others were to be sent later. She could not release identities or any other information.
The production platform owned by Black Elk Energy is about 25 miles southeast of Grand Isle, La. The Coast Guard said 26 people were aboard the platform at the time of the explosion.
The platform is for oil production from an established well, unlike the Deepwater Horizon rig, which was drilling an exploratory well for oil giant BP in mile-deep water when it blew up and triggered a massive oil spill in 2010. That site is well to the east of Friday's explosion.
Cubanski said the platform appeared to be structurally sound. After the April 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, that rig burned for about 36 hours before suffering structural collapse and sinking to the Gulf floor.
The Black Elk platform is in 56 feet of water. Cubanski said 28 gallons of oil were in the broken line.
The Coast Guard got the call about the fire at 8:42 a.m. CST.
A federal official in Washington said a team of environmental enforcement inspectors was flying to the scene.
David Smith, a spokesman for the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, said the team was dispatched from a Gulf Coast base by helicopter soon after the Coast Guard was notified of the emergency. Smith said the team would scan for any evidence of oil spilling and investigate the cause of the explosion.
Black Elk is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The company's website says it holds interests in properties in Texas and Louisiana waters, including 854 wells on 155 platforms.
Coast Guard Capt. Ed Cubanski told a news conference in New Orleans the well was not producing at the time and no oil was leaking. A small amount of oil spilled from the rig when workers using a torch cut into a 75-foot-long, 3-inch-wide line on the platform. Cubanski said a sheen one-half mile long and 200 yards wide was reported in the area.
"It's not going to be an uncontrolled discharge from everything we're getting right now," Cubanski said.
The fire had since been extinguished, said Coast Guard spokesman Drake Fore. He said Coast Guard aircraft and boats were searching for two missing people. Nobody was believed killed in the fire.
Taslin Alfonzo, spokeswoman for West Jefferson Medical Center in suburban New Orleans, said four injured workers were brought to the hospital in critical condition with second- and third-degree burns over much of their bodies. Three arrived by helicopter at 9:55 a.m. and one by helicopter at 10:10 CST.
Two were sent by ambulance to the Baton Rouge Burn Center. Two others were to be sent later. She could not release identities or any other information.
The production platform owned by Black Elk Energy is about 25 miles southeast of Grand Isle, La. The Coast Guard said 26 people were aboard the platform at the time of the explosion.
The platform is for oil production from an established well, unlike the Deepwater Horizon rig, which was drilling an exploratory well for oil giant BP in mile-deep water when it blew up and triggered a massive oil spill in 2010. That site is well to the east of Friday's explosion.
Cubanski said the platform appeared to be structurally sound. After the April 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, that rig burned for about 36 hours before suffering structural collapse and sinking to the Gulf floor.
The Black Elk platform is in 56 feet of water. Cubanski said 28 gallons of oil were in the broken line.
The Coast Guard got the call about the fire at 8:42 a.m. CST.
A federal official in Washington said a team of environmental enforcement inspectors was flying to the scene.
David Smith, a spokesman for the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, said the team was dispatched from a Gulf Coast base by helicopter soon after the Coast Guard was notified of the emergency. Smith said the team would scan for any evidence of oil spilling and investigate the cause of the explosion.
Black Elk is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The company's website says it holds interests in properties in Texas and Louisiana waters, including 854 wells on 155 platforms.
And after the reports are filed and safety logs are reviewed....guess what... I'll be darned if the inspection folks had better things to do than check this out.....whoops, I thought I checked that........ Louisiana still has so much corruption it is unbelievable. Â
Oh no, not again.
Is it wort it? So much for renewable energy. Oil, coal and petroleum reigns supreme. Any other viable renewable resources will always be put on the back burner as long as there's a profit to make. Continue with the forced rape of citizens, the earth and further depletion of nonrenewable resources. Brilliant...  :(
 @Funky-Munky off-topic
@Funky-Munky OK go power your train, truck, ship, that brought you your computer that you are using, Infact toss that away because 98% of it is made from oil! It is not just fueling cars 100% of everything you own has a link to oil!
@wynooheeman You know that cars used to be powered only by alcohol that can be produced in your back yard? They still can. We need to stop complaining about the government/oil company strangle-hold and do something about it.
@Susabelle go buy that bike! the paint on it is made for petroleum, the Tires are made with oil from the earth the chain is oiled everything you own everything you buy is from big oil. there is no escaping it.
 @wynooheeman  @Magic Wow if that isnt an endorsement to go buy a bicycle I dont know what is...
@Magic 8 Ball I don't complain about it! I embrace it! I buy stocks in companies like this. I make money every time you fill up! I make money every time a drop of oil is produced! I see the world as it is. Not as you want it to be. so I embrace what we have make a living off it. and work to change it from with in. Share holders have a voice and a vote in companies the more who buy the stocks the more votes they have. get the Ideas. so stop complaining and really do something. Invest and vote and be heard.
 @wynooheeman Are you making profits from my observations? No you're not. Why defend profit over alternative resources? Renewable resources exist. Oh well, keep dreaming you're an oil baron.Â
 @wynooheeman Good grief forget progress then and continue to use non-renewable resources.... whatever. Why even explore other forms of renewable energy then? Use it all up is your motto and logic. pathetic.
@Funky-Munky I am not the one living in a fantasy world. I am living in the world that is right he right now. Everything you own every thing you use is brought to you by big oil. when you grasp that fact. your rants become moot!
This is what happens when oil prices fall too low. They blow up a sacraficial oil rig or refinery and, just like that, oil is back at $100/barrel.
 @Magic 8 Ball off-topic
@Magic 8 Ball so a oil company tries to kill people to make money. go back to lala land this is not the era of Mr Fink.
 @wynooheeman Sarcasm... my friend sarcasm! (good grief)
 @Magic 8 Ball I passed gas.... raise the price of gas..... :D)
Obama's fault. ;-)
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Hey, I'm just getting ahead of the wing nuts.
 @Howard Beale Oh your right, everything is Obama's fault. Wife left you - Obama's fault. Kid dropped out of school? Obama's fault. Your company closes because they make something people no longer care about - Obama's fault.Â
@quidproquo @Howard Beale why not it worked so well for Obama to blame bush!
 @wynooheeman The difference it's Bush jr's fault. (good grief)