Mexico City. The state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is stopping producing about 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil after a fire on a marine platform that left several people injured and at least one dead on Saturday, a company source said.
The Akal-B platform in the Campeche Sound, where the largest volume of crude oil is extracted in the country, remained out of service on Tuesday while employees worked to make it “operate normally,” the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to testify on the subject.
Pemex did not respond to a request for comment. The company has not provided updates on the fire since Sunday, when it reported that it was carrying out an inspection and evaluating the causes of the fire “to reestablish operations at the process center.”
The highly indebted state oil company’s hydrocarbon production is likely to take a hit in April as a result, the source said. The company estimates its current oil and condensate production at 1.8 million bpd, of which 1.5 million is crude oil, the lowest in 45 years.
Local media said that a second worker died as a result of the fire. Reuters could not confirm that version. Pemex had reported the first, from the private company COTER.
In recent years, the oil company has recorded several fatal accidents at its marine facilities, which some experts attribute to a lack of investment in key maintenance, which the company usually denies.
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– 2024-04-10 17:27:07
