Natural gas spewed uncontrolled from a well off the Louisiana coast Tuesday after a blowout that forced the evacuation of 44 workers aboard a drilling rig, authorities said.
No injuries were reported in the midmorning blowout and there was no fire as of Tuesday evening at the site, about 55 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts from Wild Well Control Inc. were to assess the well site overnight and develop a plan to shut down the flow of gas, said Jim Noe, executive vice president of Hercules Offshore Inc, owner of the drilling rig where the blowout occurred.
Noe stressed that gas, not oil, was flowing from the well. He said it’s an important distinction because gas wells in relatively shallow areas — this one was in 154 feet of water — sometimes tend to clog with sand, effectively snuffing themselves out. “That is a distinct possibility at this point,” he said. “But until we have our Wild Well Control personnel on the rig, we won’t know much more.”
The Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE, kept state and coastal officials apprised of the well’s status.
“According to federal officials, there is no imminent danger at this time,” said Kevin Davis, head of the Louisiana governor’s homeland security office said.
Still, the Coast Guard kept nautical traffic out of an area within 500 meters of the site, where the spewing gas posed a fire hazard. The Federal Aviation Administration restricted aircraft up to 2,000 feet above the area. BSEE said a firefighting vessel with water and foam capabilities would reach the scene by Tuesday night.
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