A Venezuelan natural gas exploration rig sank in the Caribbean sea early on Thursday, though all 95 workers on the were rescued and there was no gas leak, the government said.
The accident occurred less than a month after a deadly explosion in the Gulf of Mexico sank a BP-owned oil rig, claiming 11 lives and triggering one of the world’s worst-ever oil spills, threatening sensitive coastal areas.
Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said the well being explored by the Aban Pearl platform had been safely sealed after the rig sank near the northeast coast, close to Trinidad and Tobago.
PHOTO: AFP
“This is different from the Gulf of Mexico, because it is a testing well,” Ramirez said.
The rig’s captain, an Indian national, and one of the last three engineers on board, had to dive into the sea as the football field-sized platform disappeared beneath the waves, he said.
“At 2:20am the rig sank completely. I flew over it this morning and there is nothing to see,” Ramirez said in an interview.
The Aban Pearl was the first offshore gas rig operated by state oil company PDVSA. State television frequently portrayed the platform as evidence of Venezuela’s engineering prowess.
The OPEC nation has been producing oil for more than a century, but almost all of its oil and gas output comes from onshore projects or inland Lake Maracaibo. Offshore drilling, especially deep water production, is expected to provide more of the world’s oil supply as production in onshore fields declines and demand rises.
The BP spill has prompted a push for tighter offshore drilling regulations in the US. The Venezuelan accident could prompt still more scrutiny of the industry.
“This is adding PR insult to injury,” Tyler Priest, director of global studies at the Bauer College of Business, University of Houston and author of a book about Shell’s offshore Gulf of Mexico activities, said when asked about the two accidents happening so close together.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez broke news of the accident on the rig — owned by India’s Aban Offshore in alliance with Singapore-based Petromarine Energy Services Ltd — at 3:11am from his Twitter account, @chavezcandanga.
Critics say Chavez wrecked PDVSA by firing thousands of managers and technicians after a strike in 2002. The company,. the main financer of his socialist revolution, has suffered cash flow problems as oil prices have fallen.
In recent years, Venezuela, one of the world’s leading oil exporters, has endured a series of fires and maintenance problems at its network of refineries. Nationalization of foreign-owned projects, new foreign investment and higher taxes have bolstered PDVSA’s coffers.
The Latin American nation sits on some of the world’s largest offshore natural gas reserves, but PDVSA is not yet producing offshore gas. Fears of rule changes and pricing issues mean the company has struggled to attract investment from foreign companies with the necessary expertise.
Ramirez said submersible robots would probe the cause of the accident, which appeared to be a sudden surge of water entering a submarine raft that the rig’s legs float on.
“There are several hypothesis about the cause but nothing has been proved yet. We are going to send underwater robots because divers cannot enter there,” the minister said.
He also noted that safety valves and other mechanisms have sealed the well, with no risk of a leak.
The rig owner may try to refloat the Aban Pearl and two more exploration rigs are traveling to Venezuela from India, Ramiriz said.
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