Coast Guard: Fire Out, No Oil Sheen After Rig Explosion In Gulf

Updated 10:22 p.m. Thursday:

(AP) - The captain of a boat that rescued 13 people who escaped an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico says the blast aboard the vessel was so sudden that they didn't have time to get
in a lifeboat.

Dan Shaw from the Crystal Clear tells The Associated Press that his boat was 25 miles away when it received a distress call Thursday morning about the platform fire.

The 59-year-old captain says the workers were huddled together, holding hands in the water, where they had been for two hours. They were hungry and tired.

Shaw says the platform was in flames and there was a lot of smoke. He says he did not see any oil in the water. He says the workers did not explain what might have caused the explosion but they said painters were on board.

Posted 5:12 p.m. Thursday:

(CNN) - A fire on a well connected to an oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday is out and there is no indication of an oil sheen, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

There were no serious injuries among the rescued 13 crew members, who were wearing survival suits when they were plucked out of the water. They were being evaluated at Terrebone General Hospital, officials said.

Despite earlier reports, there is no evidence of an oil sheen, said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Peter Troedsson, adding there were no visible leaks.

"We continue to investigate and to monitor that situation," he said at a news conference.

The vessel the Vermilion Oil Rig 380 was engulfed in flames Thursday morning about 100 miles off the central coast of Louisiana. The fire forced its 13 crew members into the water. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said they were doing maintenance.

Jindal said the men he spoke to were in good spirits and one was being released shortly to go home for his son's birthday. "What's important is there are no injuries, no loss of life," Jindal said.

Mariner Energy, which owns the platform, said that the fire was not sparked by an explosion. It started at one of the platform's seven active wells, the company said.

The cause is not yet known, officials said.

Mariner Energy said it has "shut in" the production platform.

The Vermilion was last inspected in January, said federal officials, indicating a report "was not immediately available."

During the last week of August, production from the platform averaged approximately 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas a day and 1,400 barrels (58,800 gallons) of oil, the company said.

David Reed, a paramedic on board a nearby oil rig, said he suddenly saw "a bunch of smoke" from the direction of the Vermilion platform, and radios in his rig's control room started "lighting up like a Christmas tree" soon after.

The first report of the fire came from Rotorcraft Leasing, a company that provides helicopter services for the industry, the Coast Guard said.

The incident comes nearly five months after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people and causing a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico -- one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. That oil rig, contracted by BP, had 126 workers. It burned for three days before finally sinking.

Thursday's incident took place aboard a production platform, which is built after a well is drilled and remains in place for years. Oil rigs drill the wells. The platforms pump pressure down the hole to keep the well flowing, and sometimes collect the oil or gas, or both.

U.S. agencies and BP capped the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well July 15, stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf. The effects of the huge spill could hurt the region for years.

The failure of the well's blowout preventer triggered the April 20 explosion, and crews are expected to remove the equipment from the well since it may hold valuable forensic evidence as to why it failed.

The Obama administration tried to impose a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the wake of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon in April, but the ban is in legal limbo.

A group of companies that provide boats and equipment to the deepwater drilling industry sued to overturn the ban and won in June. The government tried again in July, imposing a new moratorium and asking for the suit to be thrown out. A federal judge refused this week to dismiss it.

The Vermilion platform did not violate the moratorium, said Melissa Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which replaced the Minerals Management Service.

"This was an oil and gas production platform in approximately 340 feet of water, 102 miles offshore Louisiana (80 nautical miles)," she said. "This platform was authorized to produce oil and gas at this water depth. The current suspension involves drilling rigs in water depths greater than 500 feet," she said.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the federal government has "assets ready" to respond to any environmental problems resulting from the fire on the Vermilion structure.

Mariner Energy describes itself as one of the leading independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said it had interests in about 350 federal offshore leases last year, with more than 110 of the 350 in development. The company has about 300 employees. Its most recent quarterly net income was $1.7 million.

Shares of Mariner Energy fell 60 cents to $22.75 on Thursday.

The company is in the process of a planned merger with a larger company, Apache Corp. The merger is about four to six weeks away from completion, an Apache spokesman said.