Pemex CEO Octavio Romero said a gas leak during maintenance work might have caused a deadly fire at its offshore platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The blaze killed five workers and injured six, while two others were still missing. The platform is part of Ku-Maloob-Zaap (KMZ), Pemex’s most productive oil field. Romero added that investigation is still underway to determine the exact cause of the blaze.
The fire shut 125 wells, totaling 421,000 bpd of lost production, about 25% of Mexico’s overall output and about $25 million per day of sales. Pemex has so far restored 71,000 bpd of production and expects to recover an additional 110,000 bpd in the next few hours. On Tuesday, Romero said that a full production resumption was expected by August 30.
