Crew members float in the water, huddled together in survival outfits called "gumby suits."
updated 59 minutes ago
GRAND ISLE, La. — The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said Thursday afternoon that crews were unable to confirm the oil sheen. The Coast Guard says platform owner Mariner Energy reported a sheen about a mile long and 100 feet wide. But the company has said in a statement that an initial flyover didn't find an oil spill.
Ben-lesau says the fire on the platform has been put out. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water.
Patrick Cassidy, a spokesman for Mariner Energy, told Reuters that the fire was extinguished shortly before 3 p.m. CDT and all crew members have been brought ashore in Houma, La. There were no injuries, he said, although Ben-Iesau said one person was injured.
Video: Oil platform explodes off Louisiana coast
GRAND ISLE, La. — The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said Thursday afternoon that crews were unable to confirm the oil sheen. The Coast Guard says platform owner Mariner Energy reported a sheen about a mile long and 100 feet wide. But the company has said in a statement that an initial flyover didn't find an oil spill.
Ben-lesau says the fire on the platform has been put out. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water.
Patrick Cassidy, a spokesman for Mariner Energy, told Reuters that the fire was extinguished shortly before 3 p.m. CDT and all crew members have been brought ashore in Houma, La. There were no injuries, he said, although Ben-Iesau said one person was injured.
Video: Oil platform explodes off Louisiana coast
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38973757/#slice-2
The platform, which produces oil and gas, caught fire early Thursday. The scene is west of the site of the massive BP spill.
Cassidy said that the seven wells, which last week produced 1,400 barrels of oil per day and 9.2 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, were shut in.
"The facility is still standing. The fire was contained" to the upper of two decks, Cassidy said. He disputed descriptions of the fire as a blast. "It wasn't a blowout, it's not an explosion," he told Reuters. "The fire appears to have been in or near the living quarters on the upper deck."
But Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform.
The company that owns the rig, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the blast, which was reported by a helicopter flying over the area.
Crew members were found floating in the water, huddled together in survival outfits called "gumby suits."
"These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because, beyond getting off the rig, there's all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia," Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said.
msnbc.com Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene.
The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion.
Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.
The rig is a fixed platform that was in production at the time of the fire, according to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press.
The update said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.
The platform, which produces oil and gas, caught fire early Thursday. The scene is west of the site of the massive BP spill.
Cassidy said that the seven wells, which last week produced 1,400 barrels of oil per day and 9.2 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, were shut in.
"The facility is still standing. The fire was contained" to the upper of two decks, Cassidy said. He disputed descriptions of the fire as a blast. "It wasn't a blowout, it's not an explosion," he told Reuters. "The fire appears to have been in or near the living quarters on the upper deck."
But Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform.
The company that owns the rig, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the blast, which was reported by a helicopter flying over the area.
Crew members were found floating in the water, huddled together in survival outfits called "gumby suits."
"These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because, beyond getting off the rig, there's all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia," Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said.
msnbc.com Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene.
The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay. Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after the April rig explosion.
Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.
The rig is a fixed platform that was in production at the time of the fire, according to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press.
The update said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.
Story: Mariner may be facing BP-style crisis Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Mariner Energy officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting at the time of the accident.
"We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water," Gibbs said.
Story continues below More below Sponsored links Advertisement ad infoAdvertisement ad info.A company report said the well was drilled in the third quarter of 2008.
There are about 3,400 platforms operating in the Gulf, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Together they pump about a third of the America's domestic oil, forming the backbone of the country's petroleum industry.
Platforms are vastly different from oil rigs like the Deepwater Horizon. They are usually brought in after wells are already drilled and sealed.
So? .."A production platform is much more stable," said Andy Radford, an API expert on offshore oil drilling. "On a drilling rig, you're actually drilling the well. You're cutting. You're pumping mud down the hole. You have a lot more activity on a drilling rig."
In contrast, platforms are usually placed atop stable wells where the oil is flowing at a predictable pressure, he said. A majority of platforms in the Gulf do not require crews on board. Federal authorities have cited Mariner Energy and related entities for 10 accidents in the Gulf of Mexico over the last four years, according to safety records from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
The accidents range from platform fires to pollution spills and a blowout, according to accident-investigation reports from the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service.
In 2007, welding sparks falling onto an oil storage tank caused a flash fire that slightly burned a contract worker. The Minerals Management Service issued a $35,000 fine.
Mariner Energy Inc. focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf. In April, Apache Corp., another independent oil company, announced plans to buy Mariner in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $3.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.2 billion of Mariner's debt. That deal is pending.
On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer, another step toward completion of a relief well that would put a final seal on the well. The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people and setting off a three-month leak that totaled 206 million gallons (780 million liters) of oil.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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