Climate Activists Furious As Gas Leak Sets Sea On Fire

Climate activists have slammed Mexico for its policy to boost oil and gas exploration and production, as well as the oil industry as a whole, following a Friday gas leak near a Mexican oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused an ‘eye of fire’ on the ocean’s surface

The incident, which took place only 400 meters (1,300 feet) away from the oil production platform shows the serious risks that the fossil fuel model in Mexico poses to people’s safety and environment, Greenpeace Mexico said in a statement, and is a reminder of the dangerous consequences of Mexico’s policy to rely on fossil fuels.

On Friday, Mexico’s state-owned oil firm Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said that a fire occurred near the KU-C satellite platform in the Campeche offshore drilling area. A gas leak was the reason for the fire which was extinguished some five hours after the leak occurred, said Pemex which is investigating the reason for the incident. No people have been injured, the company noted.  

Footage of the fire on the ocean’s surface became viral within hours and many climate activists slammed Mexico for its policy to boost oil and gas exploration and production, as well as the oil industry as a whole for destroying the earth and the oceans.

Tres barcos han apoyado para sofocar las llamas pic.twitter.com/thIOl8PLQo

— Manuel Lopez San Martin (@MLopezSanMartin) July 2, 2021

Mexico’s model to continue supporting oil and gas extraction carries daily risks of such kind and this energy model should change, as Greenpeace has urged, Gustavo Ampugnani, Executive Director of Greenpeace México, said.

Leftist nationalist Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been a staunch supporter of boosting the role of Pemex in the energy industry as a way to reverse a decline in oil production.

Criticism at Mexico’s support for oil expanded into a general rebuke from Greta Thunberg aimed at the world’s politicians and policy makers for backing fossil fuels. In a tweet commenting on the fire in the Gulf of Mexico, she said:

“Meanwhile the people in power call themselves ‘climate leaders’ as they open up new oilfields, pipelines and coal power plants - granting new oil licenses exploring future oil drilling sites. This is the world they are leaving for us.”  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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