www.bloomberg.comby Andres R. Martinez
Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil monopoly, said at least 10 workers were killed when an oil rig hit a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico during a storm, and 18 are still missing or in lifeboats.
Rescuers have retrieved 58 of the 86 workers who evacuated from a drilling rig and a floating platform about 47 miles (75 kilometers) off the shore from Ciudad del Carmen in Campeche state, said Carlos Ramirez, a spokesman in Mexico City for the company, which is known as Pemex.
The death toll may be the highest in 31 years for the Gulf, a primary source of oil and natural gas to the U.S. and Mexico. The rescue effort was hindered by ``extreme weather conditions that we've never registered before,'' Carlos Morales, director of Pemex's exploration and production unit, said today in an interview with Mexico's Radio Formula.
Waves as high as 26 feet (8 meters) knocked the rig and platform together, damaging a drilling mechanism and pipes and causing fuel and oil spills, Pemex said late yesterday in a statement. After 3:35 p.m., the workers evacuated from the Kab- 101 platform and the Usumacinta rig, which Pemex leases from Compania Perforadora La Central, Morales said.
Rescue Efforts
Six Pemex helicopters, two Mexican Navy helicopters and four ships are being used in the rescue operation, the Pemex executive said. Some of the workers may have left their lifeboats, and their emergency communication equipment doesn't have adequate range to reach rescuers, Morales said.
Usumacinta is a 25-year-old drilling rig with extendable legs that allow it to drill in seas up to 200 feet deep, according to Rigzone, a Houston-based company that compiles data on the offshore oil industry.
Eight Mexican ports on the Gulf were closed to commercial traffic yesterday after the storm produced gusts of 81 miles an hour, said Martin Munoz, of Mexico's meteorological service. The ports, including three used by Pemex to transport oil, will remain shut until at least tomorrow, Munoz said. Smaller ships have been docked at all Mexican ports in the Gulf, he said.
Yesterday's accident was the deadliest for the offshore industry in the Gulf since 13 died on the Ocean Express jackup rig, which capsized in bad weather in April 1976, according to Simon Marquis, a U.K.-based offshore-rig researcher. The 13 workers were killed when their rescue capsule was flipped by a wave and filled with water before they could get aboard a nearby tug. Marathon Oil was the operator.
It's the third time employees have been evacuated this month from Pemex facilities. A boat caught fire on Oct. 11, killing one worker, and a cleanup boat hired by Pemex capsized Oct. 22, leaving one person missing.
The Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 27 percent of U.S. oil production and 15 percent of natural-gas output, according to Energy Department figures.
