Posted on 4/13/2011, 12:09:51 PM by thackney
“After several attempts to rescue the platform failed, it partially sank at 14:30 (local time),” said Pemex in a statement.
“No one is injured, the entire staff is safe.”
Water depth in the area is 38 meters, and given the dimensions of the semi-submersible platform, which is 50 meters wide, the partially sunk floatel remains 13 metres above water levels.
An incident onboard the floatel was first reported at 7:39am yesterday morning when 638 personnel were immediately evacuated to the nearby Abkatun-Alfa platform.
It is believed that a valve problem caused the unit to take in water.
“According to procedures, we applied the emergency response plan of the system and the majority of staff onboard were immediately evacuated,” said Pemex.
“Seventy five crew members remained to meet the contingency.”
Specialised divers attempted to review water entry into the vessel and seal the pontoon, but the work had to be suspended for the safety of the divers, said Pemex.
“Bilge pumps from the installation were insufficient to counteract the ingress of water so we proceeded to complete evacuation at 13:30,” said the operator.
The floatel, which is owned by Cotemar and managed by PEP, has 2075 barrels of diesel stored in the pontoons and 82 barrels of jet fuel stored in containers on the deck.
“There is no evidence of leakage,” said Pemex.
" We will continure to monitor the area to detect the presence of any spill around the platform."
The company said it now plans to start investigations into the cause of the incident and review salvage options for the platform.
A total of 713 oil platform workers were evacuated on Tuesday when a semi-submersible residence began to collapse into the Gulf of Mexico, said state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).
Bush’s fault!
Pemex, the only oil company I have known that lost money.’
J. Paul Getty
PEMEX has been the cash cow keeping Mexico afloat. But they have long since been pulling out to many pesos without leaving enough to invest and maintain for the future.
Over 700 workers on one platform? Just wow!
It was a workers' dormitory or "bunkhouse"...
The Jupiter platform, which belongs to contractor Cotemar, sank Tuesday morning due to problems with a valve, Pemex said in a statement.
The platform’s 75 crewmen stayed aboard to deal with the emergency.
The pumps were unable to keep the water out and the crewmen had to be evacuated later in the day, Pemex said.
“After several attempts to save the platform, it could not be stabilized and it shifted and partially sank,” the oil company said, adding that four crane ships and seven supply ships participated in the rescue operation.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/money/2011/04/13/offshore-platform-sinks-gulf-mexico/
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