NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) — An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Friday in the Gulf of Mexico about 102 miles south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast.
The Coast Guard is saying that a mile-long oil sheen is spreading from the site.
All 13 people aboard the rig were found floating in the water in survival gear.
The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the explosion, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the site around 9 a.m. CDT. All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury was not known.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau says seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Ala.
Ben-Iesau said all 13 people were rescued from the water by an offshore service vessel, the Crystal Clear, and taken to a nearby platform. All were being flown to the Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma to be checked over.
The Department of Homeland Security said the platform, known as Vermilion Oil Platform 380, was owned by Mariner Energy of Houston. The platform is in 340 feet of water and was not producing oil and gas.
“This platform was authorized to produce oil and gas at this water depth. The facility has not been recently in active production; there were ongoing maintenance activities under way,” said Melissa Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
A call to the company seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Ben-Iesau says some of those from the rig were spotted in emergency flotation devices.
Mariner Energy focuses on oil and gas exploration and production company focused on the Gulf of Mexico. In April, Apache Corp., another independent petroleum company, announced plans to buy Mariner in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $3.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.2 billion of Mariner’s debt. That deal is pending.
An Apache report said the well was drilled in the third quarter of 2008 in 340 feet of water.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting and did not know whether Obama had been informed of the explosion.
“We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water,” Gibbs said.
Responding to an oil spill in shallow water is much easier than in deepwater, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor.
The platform is about 200 miles west of BP’s blown out Macondo well. On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blow-out preventer, another step toward completion of a relief well that would complete the choke of the well. The BP-leased rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people and setting off a massive oil spill.
Associated Press writers Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans, Eria Werner in Washington and Chris Kahn in New York contributed.
 
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