Petronas Carigali Says Six Injured in Platform Fire - BusinessWeek

Data from regulators around the world suggest that after years of improvement, the offshore-drilling industry's safety record declined over the past two years.

This accident comes after the 10 July 2010 Pipeline Leak Incident.

A production pipeline belonging to the Malaysian unit of independent energy firm Newfield Exploration Co was the source of an oil sheen spotted earlier off the country’s east coast, Petronas said today.

A report lodged by Newfield Peninsula Malaysia Inc with the Malaysian authorities had earlier shown it was checking for a possible oil leak off the coast.Petronas had said yesterday it shut down pipelines at an oil platform after discovering an oil sheen near facilities it shared with Newfield and the Malaysian unit of Exxon Mobil. Initial visual inspection results indicate the pipeline has been damaged by activities of an unidentified marine vessel unrelated to Newfield’s operations,” Petronas said in a statement today.

“Repair work on the affected pipeline is in progress.”

It said production pipelines belonging to its exploration arm and Exxon Mobil had resumed operation since early today.

In a July 9 report lodged with the Malaysian authorities, Newfield said the Belumut to Tinggi pipeline was shut in on July 6 due to a report of a possible pipeline leak well to the west of the location.

The oil sheen was spotted along the general line of the oil pipeline from Newfield’s East Belumut-A Platform to Tinggi Platform, it said.

“Pressure was observed to be static in pipeline but it was observed to decrease night 8/9 July 2010,” the report said.

The East Belumut field is off Malaysia’s eastern state of Terengganu. — Reuters