Oil Rig Explodes Outside of Gulf

Earlier Thursday morning a report was put out from the Coast Guard saying that a platform exploded and was the cause of the leak. The leak is believed to be a mile long and over 100 feet wide.  According to Homeland Security, the platform that exploded can produce 58,800 gallons of oil on a daily basis.  It can store 4,200 gallons of oil daily.

Less than 5 months have passed since the world’ largest oil leak happened. It has been an even shorter amount of time since BP fixed, and ultimately stopped, the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Now there is a new oil spill, leaking out into the oceans waters.  It is located just 200 miles west of BP’s past recent spill in the Gulf.
Earlier Thursday morning a report was put out from the Coast Guard saying that a platform exploded and was the cause of the leak. The leak is believed to be a mile long and over 100 feet wide. According to Homeland Security, the platform that exploded can produce 58,800 gallons of oil on a daily basis. It can store 4,200 gallons of oil daily.

According to the American Petroleum Institute there are over 3,400 platforms in the Gulf at this current time. Though platforms are dangerous and precaution must be taken, they are not as dangerous as oil rigs themselves. Platforms are normally in shallow water and are done after major drilling has commenced and been finished.

Authorities and the Coast Guard have reported that no one was killed during the explosion and fire. 13 member of the oil crew were found floating in the water, all were alive and counted for. The crew was left in the water for 2 hours before a boat called, The Crystal Clear, rescued them from the water. All members were in good shape and were thirsty and tired. Once able to seek medical attention the crew was examined by the staff from a hospital in Houma. One crew member had non life threatening injuries and all members were free to leave later the same day.

One of the representatives of the Coast Guard, Cheri-Ben Lasua, commented to various sources saying that hour later when the Coast Guard checked on the spill, it simply was not there. The Coast Guard believes that the oil leak and fire burnt off in the water.

The cause of the fire is unknown. Officials and the Coast Guard are still looking into what the source of the fire and leak was. No reports have been made yet. The crew has stated they are unsure of what could have caused the fire. The crew said there was no warning and very little time to react to the blast. Shaw, Captain of the Crystal Clear ship, said “they just said there was an explosion and fire. It happened very quickly.”