Louisiana:
An oil platform exploded and caught fire off the Louisiana coast on Thursday triggering fears of a repeat of the BP Deep Horizon oil spill in the same region earlier this year.
All 13 crew members aboard the platform were rescued. The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long 1.6 kilometres and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast about 200 miles west of the site of BP's massive spill.
But hours later, the Coast Guard's Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.
The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, said it did not know what caused the blast.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said Mariner officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out.
The Coast Guard said Mariner Energy reported the oil sheen.
But the company said in a public statement that an initial flyover of the platform did not reveal any spilled oil.
Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform.
Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery.
Light smoke could be seen drifting across the deep blue waters of the gulf.
By late afternoon, the fire on the platform was out.
The platform is in about 340 feet (103 metres) of water and about 100 miles (161 kilometres) south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast.
Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet (1524 metres) where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after an April rig explosion.
Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.
Crew members were found floating in the water, huddled together in insulated survival outfits called "Gumby suits" for their resemblance to the cartoon character.
The crew were flown to a hospital in Houma, Louisiana.
The Coast Guard said one person was injured, but the company said there were no injuries.
Jindal said the Coast Guard had assets left over from the Deepwater Horizon explosion to help deal with the situation.
He said authorities did not intend to use dispersants at this time, even though they have the authorisation to do so.
The platform is a fixed petroleum platform that was in production at the time of the fire, according to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press.
The update said the platform was producing about 58,800 gallons (222-thousand litres) of oil and 900 thousand cubic feet of gas per day.
The platform can store 4,200 gallons (15899 litres) of oil.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs however said that as he understood it, "the well was not in active production."
Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene.
Gibbs said President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting and did not know whether he had been informed of the explosion.
Mariner Energy focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico.
On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer on the Deepwater Horizon, another step toward completion of a relief well that would put a final seal on the well.
The BP-leased rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people and setting off a three-month leak that totalled 206 (m) million gallons (779 (m) million litres) of oil .
All 13 crew members aboard the platform were rescued. The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long 1.6 kilometres and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast about 200 miles west of the site of BP's massive spill.
But hours later, the Coast Guard's Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.
The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, said it did not know what caused the blast.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said Mariner officials told him there were seven active production wells on the platform, and they were shut down shortly after the fire broke out.
The Coast Guard said Mariner Energy reported the oil sheen.
But the company said in a public statement that an initial flyover of the platform did not reveal any spilled oil.
Photos from the scene showed at least five ships floating near the platform.
Three of them were shooting great plumes of water onto the machinery.
Light smoke could be seen drifting across the deep blue waters of the gulf.
By late afternoon, the fire on the platform was out.
The platform is in about 340 feet (103 metres) of water and about 100 miles (161 kilometres) south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast.
Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet (1524 metres) where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after an April rig explosion.
Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.
Crew members were found floating in the water, huddled together in insulated survival outfits called "Gumby suits" for their resemblance to the cartoon character.
The crew were flown to a hospital in Houma, Louisiana.
The Coast Guard said one person was injured, but the company said there were no injuries.
Jindal said the Coast Guard had assets left over from the Deepwater Horizon explosion to help deal with the situation.
He said authorities did not intend to use dispersants at this time, even though they have the authorisation to do so.
The platform is a fixed petroleum platform that was in production at the time of the fire, according to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press.
The update said the platform was producing about 58,800 gallons (222-thousand litres) of oil and 900 thousand cubic feet of gas per day.
The platform can store 4,200 gallons (15899 litres) of oil.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs however said that as he understood it, "the well was not in active production."
Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene.
Gibbs said President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting and did not know whether he had been informed of the explosion.
Mariner Energy focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico.
On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer on the Deepwater Horizon, another step toward completion of a relief well that would put a final seal on the well.
The BP-leased rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people and setting off a three-month leak that totalled 206 (m) million gallons (779 (m) million litres) of oil .
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