鈥淎n oil platform explosion on September 2 in the Gulf of Mexico forced the crew to jump into the sea and threatened further damage to waters still recovering from the BP disaster鈥, AFP said that day.
The explosion on the platform, owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy, comes in the aftermath of the BP-owned Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the gulf in April, which killed 11 workers. Bloomberg.com said on August 20 that 4.9 million barrels of oil escaped from the leaking well.
AFP said no workers died in the latest explosion and there was no oil leak. Workers said they had managed to shut down the well before evacuating.
However, AFP also reported: 鈥淲orkers told rescue crews [they] had spotted a thin sheen of oil spreading for about a mile.鈥 By the time fire crews arrived, it was no longer visible.
The platform was not drilling at the time of the explosion, but usually produces about 鈥1400 barrels of oil and condensate and 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas a day鈥, AFP said.
AFP reported John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA oceans campaign director, responded to the latest explosion: 鈥淗ow many times are we going to gamble with lives, economies and ecosystems?
鈥淚t鈥檚 time we learn from our mistakes and go beyond oil.鈥