Thursday, April 3, 2025

Pipeline rupture causes balls of flames on surface of Gulf of Mexico

The ocean was ablaze in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday after a Pemex underwater gas pipeline ruptured and caught fire.

The fire started around 5:15 a.m. when a 12-inch gas duct sustained a valve failure. The accident occurred 150 meters from the Ku-C drilling platform in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap extraction complex, located on the Bank of Campeche. The Ku-C platform was unoccupied at the time and there were no injuries reported.

Pemex closed the duct and dispatched fire control boats to pump water over the flames that boiled up from the deep. While the accident did not affect the operations of Ku-Maloob-Zaap the extent of environmental damage caused is unclear.

The incident drew widespread criticism from environmental groups.

“The frightening footage of the Gulf of Mexico is showing the world that offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “These horrific accidents will continue to harm the gulf if we don’t end offshore drilling once and for all.”

Reportan incendio en ducto marino en plataforma KMZ de Pemex en Campeche

Greenpeace Mexico called the accident a clear example of how the current fossil-fuels-based mode of energy production is unsustainable and presents grave risks to the environment.

Pemex has experienced several accidents in the course of the past year, including an explosion at the refinery in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, in January and another at the Cadereyta refinery in Nuevo León in December 2020.

With reports from Excélsior and AP

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum stands at the presidential podium looking out at an audience off-camera with her fist raised and her mouth open as if cheering. Behind her is a wall with the words in Spanish: Plan Mexico, Strenghtening the Economy and Well-Being, Mexico City April 3, 2025.

Sheinbaum unveils an even more ambitious version of her transformative Plan México

2
Sheinbaum said the projects she announced as part of Plan México will bring about more well-paid employment, less poverty and inequality, greater investment and production and more innovation.
A clear-cut strip of land cuts through the jungle along the Maya Train route in Yucatán

Government promises restoration plan for Maya Train environmental damage

0
Government officials said the track's builders will be responsible for funding a restoration effort that includes reforestation and improving natural migration corridors.
Cans of Cororna Extra beer lying on a bed of large ice cubes

Trump announces new US tariffs on Mexican… beer

15
Mexico didn't end up on Donald Trump's "liberation day" list of enemy countries, although the U.S. did impose tariffs on a surprising Mexican item: beer in cans.