By Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Pemex, has announced that it has successfully recovered 85% of its affected oil production capacity following a fire at Campeche Bay, the country’s largest offshore oil production area. The incident, which occurred on Friday, initially resulted in a reduction of 700,000 bbl of oil. However, Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza revealed in a social media video post on Saturday that the loss has now been minimized to 100,000 bbl.
The fire primarily impacted the Nohoch Alfa platform gas processing center in the Cantarell oil field, which was previously Mexico’s largest. Notably, this infrastructure also plays a crucial role in onshore output from Mexico’s current leading field, Ku-Maloob-Zaap. Angel Cid, Pemex’s head of exploration and production, acknowledged that the explosion had a significant impact on production at the platform, which handles approximately 600 MMcf/d of natural gas.
Pemex was able to swiftly control the fire, preventing its spread to other platforms in the area. The company confirmed that only one out of the five platforms was affected by the incident. Tragically, two workers lost their lives in the blast, while one remains missing. The victims were employees of Cotemar, an oil field service company, according to a separate statement issued by the company.
Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza assured the public that they would receive regular updates until operations return to normal. As of May, Pemex had produced 1.6 million b/d of crude oil, as reported by the company’s recent data. The current production status following the incident has not yet been addressed by Pemex representatives as of Monday.
Reporting by Karla Omana, Editing by Daniel Rodriguez
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