Burst pipeline causes eye of fire in Gulf of Mexico Li Cohen © Credit: CBSNews screen-shot-2021-07-03-at-3-02-53-pm.png
It seems like something that could only appear in a movie, but on Friday, it was reality: The ocean was on fire. A gas leak west of Mexico s Yucatan Peninsula broke out of an underwater pipeline, causing bright flames to appear to boil up to the Gulf of Mexico s surface and create what many described as an eye of fire.
Gas started leaking from the pipeline in the Campeche Sound at roughly 5:15 a.m. on Friday, according to a statement from the company that owns the pipeline, Petróleos Mexicanos, otherwise known as Pemex.
Undersea Pipeline Rupture Lights Ocean on Fire in Mexico
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The company added it would investigate the cause of the fire.
Pemex, which has a long record of major industrial accidents at its facilities, added it also shut the valves of the 12-inch-diameter pipeline.
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.
Ku Maloob Zaap is Pemex’s biggest crude oil producer, accounting for more than 40% of its nearly 1.7 million barrels of daily output.
“The turbomachinery of Ku Maloob Zaap’s active production facilities were affected by an electrical storm and heavy rains,” according to a Pemex incident report shared by one of Reuters’ sources.
By Adriana Barrera and Marianna Parraga
MEXICO CITY, July 2 (Reuters) - A fire on the ocean surface west of Mexico s Yucatan peninsula early on Friday has been extinguished, state oil company Pemex said, blaming a gas leak from an underwater pipeline for sparking the blaze captured in videos that went viral.
Bright orange flames jumping out of water resembling molten lava was dubbed an eye of fire on social media due to the blaze s circular shape, as it raged a short distance from a Pemex oil platform.
The fire took more than five hours to fully put out, according to Pemex.
Huge Gas Pipeline Fire That Erupted in Gulf of Mexico Has Been Extinguished: Oil Company
MEXICO CITY A fire on the ocean surface west of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula early on Friday has been extinguished, state oil company Pemex said, blaming a gas leak from an underwater pipeline for sparking the blaze captured in videos that went viral.
Bright orange flames jumping out of water resembling molten lava was dubbed an “eye of fire” on social media due to the blaze’s circular shape, as it raged a short distance from a Pemex oil platform.
The fire took more than five hours to fully put out, according to Pemex.
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