The dark history of the company that set the ocean on fire
In a development that should surprise few, the oil company that set the ocean on fire has a long history of unrelated explosions causing hundreds of deaths.
The company, Petróleos Mexicanos (colloquially known as Pemex) started looking for oil in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979. Soon thereafter, their well, Ixtoc I, suffered a blowout, causing one of the worst oil spills in history.
Winding the clock forward to 1992, and the company was responsible for ten explosions in Guadalajara, caused by fuel leaking in the sewers underneath the city. Horrifically, the explosions killed 252 people, but an independent investigation suggested that the figure was closer to 1,000.
As Futurism noted, “the explosions resulted in four Pemex officials being charged for negligence, though they were eventually cleared of their charges, much to the chagrin of the survivors of the explosion.”
In 2012, a Pemex gas plant in Reynosa exploded, claiming 30 people and injuring 46. Gallingly, this explosion was the catalyst for a decade of yet more accidents resulting in yet more deaths. In 2013, the Pemex office itself exploded, claiming 37 people and injuring 126 more. At the time of writing, the cause of the explosion remains a mystery.
In 2016 alone, there were two separate incidents of explosions and fires at the company’s plants and oil tankers that resulted in the deaths of 28 people. Just a few years later in 2019, an explosion occurred at a Pemex pipeline in Hidalgo after several hundred people attempted to get fuel via an illegal pipe drain, according to Global News.
When pressed for an explanation, Pemex officials claimed that the explosion was actually a warning to those who decide to steal their petroleum, hinting that those who died deserved what they got. “What happened here should serve as an example for the whole nation to unite behind the fight that the president is carrying out against this ill,” municipal health director Jorge Aguilar Lopez said. Almost 80 people perished in the blast.
So, what about the latest explosion? Well, per Reuters, “the fire has been extinguished, state oil company Pemex said, blaming a gas leak from an underwater pipeline for sparking the blaze captured in videos that went viral. Bright orange flames jumping out of water resembling molten lava was dubbed an ‘eye of fire’ on social media due to the blaze’s circular shape, as it raged a short distance from a Pemex oil platform.
“The fire took more than five hours to fully put out, according to Pemex. The fire began in an underwater pipeline that connects to a platform at Pemex’s flagship Ku Maloob Zaap oil development, the company’s most important, four sources told Reuters earlier. Ku Maloob Zaap is located just up from the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico. Pemex said no injuries were reported, and production from the project was not affected after the gas leak ignited around 5:15 a.m. local time. It was completely extinguished by 10:30 a.m.
“The company added it would investigate the cause of the fire.”
The fox investigating the chicken coop. This should go just fine.
