Mexico Oil Platform Fire Cuts 422 bpd Oil Output

A fire on a Mexican offshore oil platform cut off 422 barrels per day (bpd) of production on Tuesday, state-owned energy monopoly Pemex said, a tiny fraction of Mexico's overall output.

The fire broke out at the Kab-121 well on the Kab-101 platform, which was damaged in an earlier blaze on Oct. 23 that killed 21 workers.

The platform, whose other oil well has been closed since the October accident, was still being repaired on Tuesday and sparks from the repair work ignited leaking fuel, Pemex said.

Fire-fighting vessels extinguished one fire, only to have another start at the same well later in the day, Pemex said. No workers were reported injured.

The closed well accounts for a tiny 0.01 percent of Pemex's overall daily crude oil output, which has averaged around 3.1 million bpd this year.

Pemex said erratic winds and high concentrations of gas meant fire would remain a risk over the next few days at the platform, which is located near the port of Dos Bocas in Tabasco state.

The company, a top-three supplier of oil to the United States, has suffered repeated disruptions to its production and shipping operations this year due to stormy weather in the Gulf of Mexico.

The state-controlled firm also has been struck this year by a small Marxist rebel group that twice bombed onshore fuel pipelines, crippling chunks of industry for several days.

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