'Eye of fire' circle of flames that erupted in the Gulf of Mexico and raged for five hours was sparked by a lightning storm
Mexico's state-owned oil company said Monday that a bizarre chain of events, including a lightning storm and a simultaneous gas pipeline leak, set off a strange subaquatic fireball seen last week in the Gulf of Mexico.
Petroleos Mexicanos said an intense storm of rain and lightning on July 2 forced the company to shut off pumping stations serving the offshore rig near where the fire occurred.
Simultaneously, the leak in an underwater pipeline allowed natural gas to build up on the ocean floor and once it rose to the surface, it was probably ignited by a lightning bolt, the company said.
Pemex sent fire control boats to pump more water over the flames and no one was injured in the incident in the offshore Ku-Maloob-Zaap field. It said no crude oil was spilled. Pemex said it was repairing the pumps and investigating the cause of the gas leak.
The accident unleashed a subaquatic fireball that appeared to boil the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and drew a hail of criticism from environmentalists.
Dramatic footage showed bright orange flames raging on the sea just meters from a state-owned oil drilling platform west of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula around dawn Friday.
The blaze was dubbed an 'eye of fire' on social media due to its circular shape, while several boats were seen rushing to suffocate the flames.
Pemex, later confirmed the fire had been put out after about five hours, and that there were no injuries.
The ocean off Mexico 's Gulf Coast was up in flames Friday after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline sparked a fire on the surface of the water. The fire, which lasted five hours, was later discovered to have been caused by a lightning storm
Dramatic footage showed bright orange flames raging on the sea early Friday
The blaze was just meters from a state-owned oil drilling platform west of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula
It was dubbed an 'eye of fire' on social media due to its circular shape, while several boats were seen rushing to suffocate the flames
Sources told Reuters the fire began in an undersea gas pipeline that connects to a drilling platform at Pemex's flagship Ku Maloob Zaap offshore oil development field, located just up from the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico.
The gas leak ignited a fire 150 meters from the platform around 5:15am local time, forcing the company to shut the valves of the 12-inch-diameter pipeline.
Pemex said it dispatched fire control boats to pump water over the flames while sources also said workers had used nitrogen to battle the blaze.
At least three boats were seen surrounding the circle of fire and dousing it in water in aerial footage of the incident.
The blaze was extinguished and the gas leak brought under control about five hours later and normal operations restored, Pemex said.
The oil company said the incident resulted in no injuries and that its production had not been affected due to the time of the leak.
The cause of the incident will be investigated, it said.
According to a source, the incident report said 'the turbomachinery of Ku Maloob Zaap's active production facilities were affected by an electrical storm and heavy rains.'
The fire began in an undersea gas pipeline that connects to a drilling platform at Pemex's flagship Ku Maloob Zaap offshore oil development field, located just up from the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico (above)
The gas leak ignited a fire 150 meters from the platform around 5:15am local time, forcing the company to shut the valves of the 12-inch-diameter pipeline
Pemex said it dispatched fire control boats to pump water over the flames (seen above) while sources also said workers had used nitrogen to battle the blaze
Ku Maloob Zaap is Pemex's biggest crude oil producer, accounting for more than 700,000 barrels or more than 40 percent of its nearly 1.7 million barrels of daily output.
Pemex has a long history of major and deadly industrial accidents at its facilities.
In April, a major fire broke out at its Lázaro Cárdenas refinery in Minatitlán near the Gulf of Mexico, leaving seven people injured.
This came after Mexico encountered its deadliest pipeline explosion in its history in a village in Mexico in January 2019.
The Tuxpan-Tula pipeline, which carries fuel from Mexico's east coast to a refinery in Tula, near Tlahuelilpan, had been punctured in Hidalgo and local residents were siphoning fuel from the leak.
The pipeline exploded killing 137 people.
In 2016, 28 people were killed in an explosion at the company's petrochemical plant in the southeastern oil hub of Coatzacoalcos, months after a worker died in a separate fire at the same plant.
Three years earlier, at least 37 died in a blast at Pemex's Mexico City headquarters in 2013 while a fire at a natural gas facility in northern Mexico killed 26 the year before.
A Pemex offshore platform produces oil from the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field in the Gulf of Mexico 65 miles northeast of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico
Workers on an offshore rig producing oil from the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field. State oil company Pemex later confirmed the fire had been put out, blaming a gas leak from an underwater pipeline
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