Mariner Energy Oil Rig Explosion: No Victims But Drop of Shares!

After the Mariner Energy platform exploded earlier on Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico, the company’s shares tumbled. The Vermilion Oil platform 380 exploded throwing 13 people into the water and injuring one, according to initial Cost Guard reports. The explosion happened at at least 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay.

According to Mariner Energy all 13 crew members were evacuated safe and sound from the platform that caught fire, there were no injured workers and no evidence of a oil spill. The platform is in 340 feet of water and all of the workers abandoned the platform in time, especially since it does not have a blowout preventer, according to reports from the Coast Guard. In April, when 11 workers died at Deepwater Horizon, the cause of the explosion was a faulty blowout preventer.
Still, there are investigations pending on this case.

Although nobody was harmed after the explosion, shares of Mariner Energy dropped more than 4%, recovering slightly from the initial plunge of 5%. And Apache Corp. dropped 1% in the afternoon trading after the explosion got in the news. Apache Corp. and Mariner Energy formed a merger in April when the shares doubled.

Mariner drilled five wells in the last two years in Vermilion 380. It seems that the natural reserves are estimated at about 33 billion cubic feet of natural-gas and by the end of 2009 the estimations showed that there are still 47% of oil and 53% of gas left.