PEMEX Deadly Fire May Have Been Caused by a Gas Leak

Last weekend’s deadly fire at a PEMEX offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico may have been caused by a gas leak, said Octavio Romero, Chief Executive Officer, on Wednesday. 

On Wednesday, Romero speculated that the fire on PEMEX’s most productive oil field may have been caused by a gas leak instead. "This is preliminary information because they are doing the analysis to know in detail what happened, nevertheless, it is presumed that there was a gas leak at the time that maintenance work was being carried out on this platform," he commented, in an interview with journalist Carmen Aristegui. Additionally, he revealed DNA tests were being conducted on two scorched bodies with the help of samples from relatives to identify the remains.

MBN reported on the accident´s immediate financial losses on this highly productive facility: an approximate US$26.2 million per day worth of production, equivalent to a loss of roughly 421,000b/d, which represents about 25 percent of the country's total output. Restored capacities amount to 71,000 b/d already, and activities are expected to return fully on August 30, confirmed Romero. 

The explosion at the KMZ’s E-Ku-A2 processing platform that took place last weekend is responsible for the death of five workers, six injured, and two missing according to the latest accounts. . As reported by MBN, PEMEX had initially confirmed five deaths and no further casualties, that as of Sunday afternoon, the fire had been controlled. On Monday it was confirmed more casualties which included workers from an additional two companies, Cotemar and BMCI (Bufete de Monitoreo de Condiciones e Integridad). 

Initial reports had given several explanations for the fire, many of which pointed toward the president´s well-known governmental policies of austerity. Romero, however, was quick to dismiss the rumors and assured that the lack of maintenance or austerity were not to blame. He said, Cotemar and BMCI workers were performing routine maintenance work on power generation and compression machinery. 

During his daily morning press conference, President López Obrador said “unfortunately, it was not a good weekend, there were damages and what hurts the most is the loss of life due to hurricane Grace. Yesterday, there was a fire on a PEMEX platform. So far, the report we have is that a PEMEX worker has lost his life, there are others injured and missing.”