Updated: Wednesday, July 24 2013, 08:46 AM EDT
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? An out-of-control natural gas well off the
Louisiana coast caught fire late Tuesday, hours after 44 workers were
safely evacuated from the drilling rig following a mid-morning blowout, a
federal agency confirmed.
No injuries were reported as a result
of the fire, Eileen Angelico, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Safety and
Environmental Enforcement, told The Associated Press.
She said it
wasn't known what caused the gas to ignite. It also wasn't clear early
Wednesday how and when crews would attempt to extinguish the blaze. BSEE
said earlier Tuesday that a firefighting vessel with water and foam
capabilities had been dispatched to the scene.
Wild Well Control
Inc. was hired to try to bring the well under control. Angelico said
Wild Well personnel approached the well earlier Tuesday night, before
the fire, but they determined it was unsafe to get closer when they were
about 200 feet (60 meters) away from it.
The gas blowout was reported Tuesday morning.
The
Coast Guard kept nautical traffic out of an area within 500 meters
(1,640 feet) of the site throughout the day. The Federal Aviation
Administration restricted aircraft up to 2,000 feet (600 meters) above
the area.
BSEE said inspectors flying over the site soon after the
blowout saw a light sheen covering an area about a half-mile (800
meters) by 50 feet (15 meters). However, it was dissipating quickly.
Earlier this month, a gas well off the Louisiana coast flowed for several days before being sealed.
Officials
stressed that Tuesday's blowout wouldn't be close to as damaging as the
BP oil spill of 2010, in which an oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon,
exploded off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers and eventually
spewing millions of gallons (liters) of oil into the Gulf. It was the
worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history.
Chris
Roberts, a member of the Jefferson Parish Council in south Louisiana,
said the travel restrictions might pose an inconvenience for
participants in an upcoming deep sea fishing tournament.
"It could change some plans as to where some people plan to fish," he said.
Tuesday's
blowout occurred near an unmanned offshore gas platform that was not
currently producing natural gas, said Angelico. The workers were aboard a
portable drilling rig known as a jackup rig, owned by Hercules Offshore
Inc., which was a contractor for exploration and production company
Walter Oil & Gas Corp.
Walter Oil & Gas reported to the
BSEE that the rig was completing a "sidetrack well" ? a means of
re-entering the original well bore, Angelico said.
The purpose of
the sidetrack well in this instance was not immediately clear. A
spokesman for the corporation didn't have the information Tuesday night.
Industry websites say sidetrack wells are sometimes drilled to remedy a
problem with the existing well bore.
"It's a way to overcome an
engineering problem with the original well," Ken Medlock, an energy
expert at Rice University's Baker Institute said. "They're not drilled
all the time, but it's not new."
Source: http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/features/top-story/stories/-gas-rig-fire-gulf-mexico-9818.shtml?wap=0
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