Assessment of the Tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico: Numbers on the Pemex Platform Explosion That Victimized Oil Workers and Affected Oil Production

Disaster On The Oil Platform Causes Casualties And Financial Loss. A Similar Incident Happened In 2021 With The Same Company

In a regrettable incident that occurred on July 7, 2023, Pemex’s Nohoch-A oil and gas platform, located in the Gulf of Mexico, suffered a catastrophic fire. The tragic toll was two fatalities and thousands of barrels of crude oil damaged, in addition to several injured workers.

Also Check: In 2021, there were also other deaths, injuries, and disappearances that marked the explosion of Pemex’s E-Ku-A2 oil platform.

Incident In The Early Morning And Quick Emergency Action

According to Pemex, the incident in the Gulf of Mexico occurred around 5:25 AM. Thanks to the quick activation of the emergency system, four vessels were rapidly dispatched to control the flames. Of the five platforms in the Cantarell oil and gas field, located in the Bay of Campeche, only the Nohoch-A platform, a processing center, was affected.

At the time of the explosion, the platform housed 328 workers. Of these, 321 were evacuated with the help of seven boats. Pemex’s CEO, Octavio Romero Oropeza, confirmed that three company employees were injured but are out of danger. However, two workers from a private contractor did not survive the incident, five were injured, and one is still missing.

Human And Economic Impacts Of The Disaster

Oropeza detailed that of the three injured from Pemex, two are already at home, while the third, with burns on 35% of his body, was taken to the Central Hospital Sur de Alta Especialidad in Picacho, Mexico City.

Five workers from the contracted company, whose identity has not been revealed, were also injured, but are not in life-threatening condition. Tragically, two of their colleagues died in the fire, and one remains missing. Oropeza assured that all affected will receive full support from Petróleos Mexicanos and their respective companies.

The incident directly impacted Pemex’s production, compromising thousands of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Oropeza emphasized the company’s urgency to resume production with well-defined strategies. The fire has been controlled, and now the search is on for the root cause of this catastrophic incident.

This is not the first time Pemex has faced such an occurrence. The incident known as ‘Eye of Fire’, which occurred near the company’s Ku Maloob Zaap oil exploration in July 2021, also drew media attention. At that time, a gas leak from an underwater pipeline caused the fire, which was controlled thanks to the quick action of the workers, minimizing environmental damage.

Now, the company faces the challenge of recovering from this new blow and assessing its impact on the shares of the oil giant.