Blue Water Gas Pipeline On Fire In Gulf - MMS ]EP
09/16/2004
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
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09-16-04 1538ET
*DJ MMS: Transocean's Nautilus Drilling Ship Missing In Gulf
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09-16-04 1539ET
*DJ Transocean Confirms Nautilus Drilling Ship Missing In Gulf
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09-16-04 1541ET
DJ Transocean Confirms Nautilus Drilling Ship Missing In Gulf
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Transocean Inc.'s (RIG) Nautilus drilling ship has gone missing in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, the company confirmed Thursday.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Interior, also reported the disappearance of the ship, which drills for oil and natural gas.
Separately, the MMS also reported that El Paso Corp.'s (EP) Blue Water natural gas pipeline was on fire in the Gulf. The pipeline is part of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which can move 6.5 billion cubic feet a day from Gulf Coast producing areas to the Northeast. El Paso had reported a sudden pressure drop on the Blue Water System earlier Thursday.
The reports are the first of significant potential damage of energy infrastructure due to Hurricane Ivan, which hewed to an easterly track that spared the bulk of the Gulf Coast's offshore production facilities and refineries.
Nautilus was working for Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD,SC) unit Shell Oil when Ivan hit. All 115 people aboard were evacuated ahead of the storm, Transocean spokesman Guy Cantwell said. Aircraft continue to look for the drilling ship.
"We haven't accounted yet for the deepwater Nautilus," Cantwell said. "But we still have some hours of daylight here, and we're just hoping for the best."
The Blue Water pipeline has some 300 million to 400 million cubic feet a day of capacity.
El Paso has asked producers not to begin flowing gas into the line, spokewoman Kim Wallace said. The MMS expects the fire to burn itself out as gas in the line is consumed.
-By Spencer Jakab, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4377; spencer.jakab@dowjones.com
