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Second fire breaks out on Mariner Energy platform in Gulf of Mexico, U.S.

10 September 2010 03:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A small fire on a petroleum platform owned by U.S. Mariner Energy Inc. was extinguished Thursday, authorities said, APA reports quoting news.xinhuanet.com website.

The fire, the second reported in a week aboard the Houston- based company’s platform in the Gulf of Mexico, started about 9 a. m. local time and was extinguished before response crews arrived, according to local media. No injuries were reported.

The small fire was caused by a maintenance crew when he was using a sawing device, Mariner spokesman Patrick Cassidy was quoted as saying. The crew extinguished the fire with a water hose and a hand-held fire extinguisher, he said.

The platform, located about 75 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana, near Vermillion Bay, had not been in operation since 2006, the company said.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is investigating the incident, the agency’s spokeswoman Eileen Angelico said.

Last Thursday, a more serious fire broke out on another Mariner platform in the same general area, forcing 13 workers to abandon the facility and no one was injured. The cause of that incident is still under investigation.