MEXICO CITY (NEXSTAR) — Mexico’s state-owned oil company said Friday it suffered a rupture in an undersea gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, sending flames boiling to the surface in the Gulf waters.
Petroleos Mexicanos said it had dispatched fire control boats to pump more water over the flames.
Pemex, as the company is known, said nobody was injured in the incident in the offshore Ku-Maloob-Zaap field.
The leak near dawn Friday occurred about 150 yards (meters) from a drilling platform. The company said it had brought the gas leak under control about five hours later.
But the accident gave rise to the strange sight of roiling balls of flame boiling up from below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
Pemex said in a statement that workers cut off gas to the pipeline and extinguished the fire around 10:45 a.m.
The company was able to resume normal operations and will investigate the incident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.