[NYTr] Oil Spill Continues for 21st Day at Mexican Platform in Gulf

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Oil Spill Continues at Mexican Platform

Mexico, Nov 12 (Prensa Latina) Twenty-one days after an accident in a
platform of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) in
the Gulf of Mexico, platform Usumacinta is still tilted and the escape
of oil continues.

A bulletin of PEMEX said adverse weather conditions in Campeche stopped
the repair of the facilities.

"One of the main problems is the lack of wind able to disperse the gas
coming out of the field, which elevates the risk for a explosion or
intoxication," the bulletin said.

The gusts of wind of up to 81 miles per hour and waves eight meters
high in the Gulf of Mexico on October 23 caused one of the biggest
accidents in the history of PEMEX that cost the life of 23 workers of
the Mexican enterprise.

Although the company attributes the incident to the damages caused by a
cold front, recent investigations showed that the steel mass was broken
by the Central Drill, which ignored security rules together with the
Committee of Normalization of PEMEX.

Subsidiary organisms recommended in May 2007 to suspend operations in
the event of "predictable meteorological conditions not approved as
favorable for security."

PEMEX estimated that its facilities pour 422 barrels daily of light
crude oil into the sea that is dispersed easily due to its consistency.

When contacting with the environment, they added, 40 percent
evaporates, another percent is emulsified, 20 percent is picked up in
ships and the rest is solidified.

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PL-48