Another deadly accident has struck the Abkatún complex in the Bay of Campeche, offshore Mexico. Three workers have died and six more have been injured following a new fire yesterday at the Abkatún complex, Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, announced via social media.
 |
|
The April 2015 Abkatún fire. Image from Pemex. |
The fire began in the compression area of the Abkatún-A platform and was controlled. Pemex said that since the fire was isolated, it was not necessary to evacuate the platform.
According to a news release from Cotemar, 26 employees were affected during the fire. 19 had minor injuries and were taken for evaluation. Six employees were hospitalized in Ciudad Del Carmen and Villahermosa, and one employee had not been located.
Pemex announced yesterday that at least one of the dead workers was employed by Cotemar.
This fire is only the latest deadly accident to strike Abkatún. Last April, four workers – including one from contractor Cotemar, died following a fire on the Permanente platform. Approximately 300 workers had to be evacuated from Abkatún. In October, the cause of the fire was determined to be from a leak in a rarely used gas fuel line that had corroded. No fines were levied against Pemex, according to news reports at the time.
Abkatún is part of Pemex's Abkatún-Pol-Chuc complex, and sits 132km northeast from the Port of Dos Bocas between the states of Campeche and Tabasco. Production at the light oil fields began in 1980. The US Energy Information Administration stated that production from Abkatún-Pol-Chuc has declined from peak levels achieved in the mid-1990s, when output exceeded 700,000 b/d; production in 2013 was under 300,000 b/d.
In October, Pemex evacuated the Sihil-A platform in the Bay of Campeche due to a gas leak. No injuries or fire had been reported at the time of that incident.
In June, a fire broke out onboard Pemex’s unmanned Akal-H platform, and while the platform suffered minimal damage, the fire caused a leak of natural gas and oil, with an estimated production loss of 15,000 bbl of crude oil due to the incident.
Read more
Cause of deadly Pemex Abaktun fire determined
Pemex reports latest offshore incident
Subscribe
