On July 7, 2023, a fire broke out at the Nohoch-A platform processing centre in the Cantarell oil and gas field, Bay of Campeche. The platform is operated by Mexican state oil company Pemex.
The Mexican state oil company sent boats to fight the fire and set up a hospital to care for the injured. The fire was reportedly controlled after several hours.
Currently, Pemex is advising that this incident will NOT have an impact on the other platforms or on the movement of vessels, and we are not expecting any delays or impact on business.
Business continuity in this area is not affected and operates normally on the other platforms. Pemex did however quote “oil production has been impacted in a substantial way” No further details have been offered on the impact on output.
This platform currently produces about 170,000 barrels per day of crude, but two decades ago, it exceeded two million bpd, when the state giant exceeded three million bpd.
Located in the so-called “Sonda de Campeche” and about 85 kilometres from Ciudad del Carmen, in the state of Campeche, Cantarell was Pemex’s most emblematic asset in years of intense hydrocarbon exploitation and is made up of a series of fields in the area Marine.
The Pemex director indicated that they are going to work to determine the cause of the fire on the Nohoch-Alfa platform since it is still unknown how it originated. He also explained that production on the said platform will be reduced: “The incident will affect several thousand barrels of crude oil equivalent, that is, oil and gas, so it will seek to quickly return to production with defined strategies.”