AFX News Limited
Twenty oil rigs missing in Gulf of Mexico - Coast Guard
08.31.2005, 08:38 PM
WASHINGTON (AFX) - At least 20 oil rigs and platforms are missing in the Gulf of Mexico and a ruptured
gas pipeline is on fire after Hurricane Katrina hit the region, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a source from a US Coast Guard unit operating in the area.
'We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was,' Petty Officer Robert Reed told AFP.
The missing rigs were in the Gulf of Mexico, Reed said, citing Coast Guard overflights of the area and information from oil companies.
He could not confirm the location of the blaze but said it would 'eventually burn out' and no fire-fighting intervention was needed.
'We are of course working on the environmental side of things but right now we are still concentrating on search-and-rescue missions to save as many lives as possible on land,' said Reed, whose Coast Guard unit has been evacuated from the flooded city of New Orleans to Alexandria, Louisiana.
According to the latest tally Wednesday from the federal Minerals Management Service, a total of 561 platforms and rigs have been evacuated in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for a quarter of US oil production.
Over 91 pct of normal daily crude oil production in the Gulf -- 1.5 mln barrels -- is now shut down, and more than 83 pct of natural gas production, the MMS said.
Among the firms reporting missing rigs was Newfield Exploration Company, which said an aerial survey of its operations in the eastern Gulf showed that one of its platforms at Main Pass 138 'appears to have been lost in the storm.'
'As of this morning, boats and helicopters are mobilizing to better access damages, identify any environmental impacts and begin the repair process,' Newfield said in a statement.
Noble Corp said its semi-submersible rig Noble Jim Thompson, which was contracted to a unit of Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, had broken loose and was 17
miles adrift of its normal Gulf location.
Shell's Mars platform was said by analysts to have suffered 'extensive damage'.
'Some of our facilities have been damaged and production is halted while we begin assessments and run checks,' Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said.
On shore, at least eight refineries have been shut down on the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi since Katrina roared ashore early Monday just east of New Orleans.
Many other refineries are struggling to cope with shortfalls of crude caused by the closure of major port terminals and pipelines from evacuated and missing rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
In response, the US government prepared Wednesday to open its emergency oil
reserves for the first time in a year to keep supplies running to those refineries still operating.