Platform fire will not dent oil target: Pemex

OREANDA-NEWS. April 08, 2015. Mexico's state-run Pemex said it lost about 220,000 b/d of oil production for five days following a deadly 1 April blaze on an oil platform in Campeche bay in the Gulf of Mexico.

For security reasons, Pemex cut off the flow in the pipelines linked to the Abkatun A-Permanente platform when the fire ignited in the dehydration and pumping section.

Pemex restored about 170,000 b/d of production on 5-6 April.

Exploration and production manager Gustavo Hernandez said Pemex is still hoping to meet its 2015 output target of 646,000 b/d of oil and 1.422bn ft3/d (39.8mn m3/d) of natural gas for the southwestern maritime region.

The company expects to produce 2.400mn b/d overall in 2015, compared with 2.429mn b/d last year.

The Abkatun A-Permanente platform normally separates 510,000 b/d of oil and compressed 630mn ft3/d of gas, according to Pemex data, and is part of a larger processing cluster comprised of seven linked platforms. Partial operations are scheduled to resume on 20 April.

Until then, oil coming from the Abkatun Pol-Chuc offshore complex has been transferred to other nearby platforms.

Pemex is investigating the cause of the fire, which began around 3:40am local time on 1 April and was extinguished the following night.

The fire killed four people and injured 45 others. Three people are still missing.

Prolific Campeche is the site of the company?s mainstay Cantarell and Ku-Maloob-Zaap fields.