BW Offshore confirms fatalities after FPSO vessel explosion

Natural gas production has been halted following an explosion that occurred shortly after midday Feb. 11 onboard a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel operating in Espirito Santos basin about 120 km offshore Brazil. The Cidade de Sao Mateus FPSO, which was operated by BW Offshore for Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), was producing from postsalt Camarupim and North Camarupim fields.

BW Offshore confirmed three fatalities from the incident. Ten others sustained injuries, the company said in a statement. "Petrobras triggered the emergency response and relevant authorities have been informed,” BW Offshore said.

Petrobras released a statement as well through its Facebook page stating that the injured were transferred by helicopter to medical care in Victoria. Six others are missing, the company said.

The FPSO had been operating since June 2009 and had 74 workers on board, Petrobras said. Output from the FPSO unit was about 2.2 MMcfd of gas.

Petrobras said it had officially notified the Navy and the National Agency of Petroleum Natural Gas and Biofuels.