Oil platform fire reignites concerns about drilling in the Gulf

NEW ORLEANS — An oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire Thursday, forcing its 13 crew members overboard and adding to the debate over the safety of offshore wells.

The workers were rescued with no serious injuries reported and the fire had been put out by evening. Coast Guard officials said no oil could be seen on the water near the platform, contradicting an earlier report.

The fire began near an oil-storage tank on top of the platform about 100 miles south of Vermilion Bay, La., while the 13 workers were painting and water-blasting, according to Mariner Energy, the rig owner.

In another year, the mishap may not have garnered much attention and been seen as one of the scores of fires and explosions that occur on offshore platforms in the Gulf every year. But coming so soon after the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and set off the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history, it took on much larger significance.

Environmental groups issued news releases, saying the fire proved the wisdom of the federal moratorium on deep-water offshore drilling, even though the platform was not drilling, nor was it in deep water.

Officials from Mariner Energy will now take their turn answering to Congress, following in the footsteps of executives of BP and Transocean, which operated the Deepwater Horizon.

The three ranking House Democrats in the energy field — Henry Waxman of California, Bart Stupak of Michigan and Edward Markey of Massachusetts — sent a letter Thursday to Scott Josey, chairman and chief executive of Mariner Energy, requesting a briefing by next Friday.

Officials from Mariner, echoed by others in the industry, took pains to note the differences between this fire and the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon.

"There was no blowout, no explosion, no injuries, no spill," said Patrick Cassidy, director of investor relations for Mariner Energy, an oil and gas company in Houston with 330 employees and about $1 billion in annual revenues.

Cassidy also said he considered the incident a fire, not an explosion.

"The platform is still intact and it was just a small portion of the platform that appears to be burned," he said.

The platform has four columns standing on the seafloor at a depth of 320 feet, and seven oil-producing wells are connected to it. Its production, averaging 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,400 barrels of oil daily, is much less than that of platforms being built in far deeper waters of the Gulf.

Cassidy said the company was investigating the cause of the fire. "It doesn't appear to be related to the wells." he said. "And it doesn't appear that there was any release of oil."

He said automatic shut-off equipment on the platform sealed off the oil and gas wells before the fire occurred and the crew abandoned the platform. But he could not explain why the shut-off equipment was activated.

The fire overshadowed positive developments Thursday related to the BP spill. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reopened 5,130 square miles of fisheries. NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco said it was "another signal to tourists that the northern Gulf is open for business."

Separately, BP removed the capping stack on the Deepwater Horizon well, a prerequisite for retrieving the blowout preventer that failed.

Responders working for Mariner were studying the wells attached to the platform to see if there were any leaks, but they appeared to have been closed off, said Capt. Peter Troedsson, the chief of staff for the Coast Guard's 8th District.

Similar assurances were made after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon; in that case, they proved to be wrong.

The fire reinvigorated the debate about the federal moratorium on deep-water offshore drilling, which has been criticized by industry officials and residents of coastal states.

The moratorium is scheduled to expire Nov. 30. But the suspension could be modified or lifted sooner.

Material from The Washington Post and The Associated Press is included in this report.