Fire breaks out on Socar’s Caspian Sea platform

A fire broke out on Monday afternoon aboard an offshore platform in the Caspian Sea, offshore Azerbaijan. According to Reuters, the fire was extinguished on Tuesday.

The country’s ministry of emergency situations, the incident happened on a platform in the Gunashli field after a gas leak during repair work at one of the wells.

Sixty-nine workers have been evacuated from the platform at the Guneshli field.

The platform is operated by Azerbaijan’s state-run oil and gas company, Socar. No one was injured, and the investigation to identify the cause of the accident is underway, Socar said.

This is the second fire outbreak incident at the Gunashli field in less than a year. To remind, in December 2015, 30 offshore workers went missing following an explosion that hit Socar’s platform 10 at the Gunashli field. According to Azeri news agency Trend, the Gunashli 10 platform was still burning on Monday, with high winds making the firefighting efforts difficult.

The incident happened after a strong storm ruptured a gas pipeline, leading to the fire. All the missing workers are believed to be dead, however, Socar never provided the official number of the deceased in the December 2015 accident.

Offshore Energy Today Staff