Days after video of a gigantic ocean surface blaze near a Pemex oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico went viral, Mexico's national oil company said in a statement that environmental damage was avoided due to quick action by its workers.
The statement added that the blaze was sparked by an electric storm that ignited a leak of gas from a busted underwater pipeline. "It should be noted that there was no oil spill and immediate actions to control the fire that occurred on the sea surface avoided environmental damage," the company said in its statement.
"As a result of such events, and after approximately 5 hours, the fire was completely extinguished by closing the submarine valve and injecting Nitrogen into the gas pipeline," the statement continued.
Angel Carrizales, head of Mexico's oil safety regulator ASEA, wrote on Twitter that the incident "did not generate any spill." He did not explain what was burning on the water's surface.
The state-run Pemex committed only to carrying out an investigation to identify the root cause of the gas leak in the pipeline.
