Mary Wyatt Milano
Oil spill response team deployed in Gulf of Mexico
Coast Guard responding to blaze about 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana.
By Daniel J. Graeber
| Jan. 5, 2017 at 7:51 AM U.S. Coast Guard responding to fire at oil platform off the coast of New Orleans. Image: Vessel Finder
NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- An oil spill response crew is on its way to a site about 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana following an oil platform fire, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The New Orleans sector of the U.S. Coast Guard said it was notified about 2:30 a.m. local time of a fire offshore. Four people at the platform who evacuated into the water were recovered by a nearby supply vessel with no reported injuries.
Those onboard the supply vessel Mary Wyatt Milano, and crews from three others, are working to control the fire.
"Clean Gulf, an oil spill response organization, is currently enroute to the platform," the Coast Guard said in a statement.
There was no word on whether sheen was apparent at the site of the blaze. There was no information yet as to which energy company was associated with the platform.
Online vessel-tracking data show the oil tanker Eva Schulte is near the site of the incident.
The Coast Guard said the incident is under investigation and response is ongoing.
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Coast Guard: Fire Reported on Gulf of Mexico Oil Platform
Jan 5, 2017, 7:03 AM ET
Four people were evacuated after a fire broke out on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, the Coast Guard said.
"Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans were notified at approximately 2:30 a.m. that an oil production platform caught fire approximately 80 miles south of Grand Isle," the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The Coast Guard said an aircrew was en route to the scene, where several offshore supply vessels were fighting the blaze.
Clean Gulf, an oil spill response organization, has dispatched a team to the platform, according to the statement.
There were no reported injuries and the cause of the incident is under investigation, the Coast Guard said.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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Coast Guard: Fire on oil platform in Gulf; four aboard rescued, safe
WWLTV.com , WWL 8:42 AM. CST January 05, 2017
NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard responded to fire on an oil production platform near Grand Isle, Louisiana, Thursday.
Around 2:30 a.m., Coast Guard Sector New Orleans were notified that an oil production platform caught fire about 80 miles south of Grand Isle.
According to the Coast Guard, four people were aboard the platform who evacuated into the water and were recovered by the offshore supply vessel Mary Wyatt Milano.
There were no reported injuries and no reports of any pollution.
The Crew of Mary Wyatt Milano and three other offshore supply vessels were called in to fight the fire, which has been extinguished, according to Coast Guard.
The cause of the incident is under investigation.
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The fire on a Gulf of Mexico platform off the Louisiana coast has been put out and no pollution has been detected, the U.S. Coast Guard said, as quoted by media.
The platform is the property of Renaissance offshore LLC, which has now suspended production on it and also on a second platform in the area, the company said in a statement, adding that the 17 wells from which the two platforms pumped crude have been shut in and all workers evacuated.
Both Renaissance Offshore and government agencies said that no oil leakage had been detected either from the platform or the wells underneath it.
The platform, located about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, caught fire in the early morning yesterday, which led to the evacuation of the crew of four that was onboard the facility.
The crew, Renaissance’s statement said, tried to put out the fire themselves but after it became clear their efforts would not be sufficient, they were evacuated by a supply vessel, the Mary Wyatt Milano, which then, together with another three vessels, fought the fire.
All platform operators in the Gulf of Mexico are extremely sensitive to any such incidents, after the place became the scene of the worst environmental catastrophe in the history of U.S. oil in 2010, when a fire took down the Deepwater Horizon, operated by BP, and led to the spilling of millions of gallons of crude, affecting ecosystems and the local economy alike.
The disaster cost the oil major upwards of US$62 billion in fines and settlements and prompted environmental authorities in the U.S. to draft new regulation, tightening the rules of conduct for platform operators.
When the draft was first released, last summer, it caused an outcry among oil producers, who protested that it would increase their production costs in a way and to an extent that is unjustified.
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Oil Platform Fire Offshore Louisiana Investigated
Carolyn Davis
January 5, 2017
An investigation was ongoing Thursday following a predawn fire aboard the Ship Shoal 266 A owned by Renaissance Offshore LLC, an oil and gas platform 80 miles offshore Grand Isle, LA.
According to Renaissance, the fire was extinguished at 5:50 a.m. CST. The U.S. Coast Guard also reported no pollution issues. Renaissance officials and personnel from the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement boarded the platform in the afternoon and confirmed the ignition source was extinguished and all hydrocarbons were secure.
"Initial efforts were made by the crew to extinguish the fire, however the decision was made to discontinue those efforts and abandon the platform due to heavy smoke," Renaissance spokesman Oliver Marsh told NGI. "All four crew members on board safely evacuated from the platform aboard a life raft and were recovered by a field vessel that had been dispatched to the location."
The crew was "safely evacuated to a nearby facility" and later transferred onshore for a full evaluation. No one suffered any injuries, Marsh said.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans were notified about 2:30 a.m. CST that a production platform in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) was on fire. An HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew from Mobile, AL, responded.
The four people aboard the platform were recovered by the offshore supply vessel Mary Wyatt Milano. The crew of the Milanoand three other offshore supply vessels initially were fighting the blaze, a Coast Guard spokesman said. Clean Gulf, an oil spill response industry cooperative that responds to spills and provides equipment for cleanup, also responded.
Renaissance was formed in late 2011 by private equity Quantum Energy Partners primarily to acquire and develop legacy oil producing properties in the shallow waters of the GOM. The operator now has 10 offshore assets situated primarily on the Outer Continental Shelf in water depths up to 1,000 feet. Most of the assets -- seven operated fields and one nonoperated -- were acquired in 2014 from Black Elk Energy and included net production of 3,300 boe/d, 71% weighted to oil.
According to U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management data, Renaissance was the 28th largest oil producer in the GOM in 2016, producing a total of 1.657 million bbl of crude, as of the latest statistical update on Tuesday (Jan. 3). NGIcalculated that about one-half of Renaissance's 2016 GOM production came in the form of lighter condensate or natural gas.
Renaissance assets in the GOM are in East Cameron 345, 360; Eugene Island 314, 330, 331; Main Pass 76, 152, 153, 264, Mississippi Canyon 357; Sabine Pass 13; Ship Shoal 198, 199, 219, 266, 269, 305; South Pass 64, 65; South Timbalier 314, 317; West Delta 28, 133, 152; and Vermillion 369, 370, 408.