Mile-long oil slick after fresh explosion

AN oil platform exploded and caught fire yesterday off the Louisiana coast, spreading a mile-long oil sheen into the Gulf of Mexico. All 13 crew members were rescued from the water in their protective “Gumby suits”.

It was the second such disaster in the Gulf in less than five months. Coast Guard petty officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform, 200 miles west of the site of BP’s massive spill.

Firefighting vessels were battling the flames.

The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, 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.

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.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Louisiana’s Vermilion Bay.

Its location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP’s well spewed oil and gas for three months after the 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.

A Homeland security update obtained by The Associated Press said the platform was producing 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration has “response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water.”