Maritime News

Three Offshore Workers Injured In Oil Field Service Rig Fire

Posted on Dec 02, 2010

The US Coast Guard is investigating a fire that broke out on a work-over rig at an abandoned natural gas well in Bayou Perot located about 20 miles south of New Orleans in the inland waters north of Barataria Bay.

The Grosse Tete oil field service rig was converting an inactive gas well for injection disposal of waste saltwater when a fire broke out on Wednesday, December 1. It burned for a short while and went out on its own. Three rig workers were injured. The crewmembers were taken by boat to an ambulance and transported to West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana.

A work-over rig is used to repair or work on an existing well. The rig is owned by Louisiana Delta Oil Company.

The Coast Guard is still investigating the incident.

Oil rig safety has been in the national headlines since the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana. Eleven offshore workers died in that incident.