Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex has experienced a reduction of approximately 20,000 barrels per day in crude oil production following a fire at an offshore platform. The incident, which occurred on Saturday, resulted in injuries to several individuals and tragically claimed at least one life, according to a source within the energy company.
Although the 1% decrease in production may seem modest, an extended outage could exacerbate the ongoing decline in crude oil production, which hit a 45-year low in February.
As of Tuesday, the Akal-B platform situated in the Gulf of Mexico remained inactive as workers endeavored to resume operations, as disclosed by the source to Reuters under anonymity due to lack of authorization to speak publicly. Pemex has refrained from commenting on the matter.
Since Sunday, when Pemex announced an inspection and investigation into the fire’s causes to facilitate the resumption of operations at the processing center, no further updates have been provided by the company.
Pemex currently reports its oil and condensate production at 1.8 million barrels per day, with crude oil accounting for 1.5 million barrels, marking the lowest production level in 45 years.
While local media outlets have indicated a second fatality resulting from the fire, Reuters has not been able to verify this information independently. Pemex had confirmed the initial fatality, involving a contractor from COTER.
In light of past fatal incidents at its offshore facilities, some experts have attributed these accidents to insufficient investment in essential maintenance by the oil company. However, Pemex has consistently refuted these claims.