Giant Oil Rig Sinks Off Brazilian Coast

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, March 20, 2001 (ENS) - The world's largest oil rig, located 130 kilometers (80.7 miles) off the northeastern coast of Brazil, hit bottom today, despite salvage attempts by its owner, the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.

On Sunday, Petrobras engineers stabilized the 40 story structure by pumping 4,100 tons of nitrogen into two of the flooded compartments on the Petrobras 36 (P36) platform. But the company reported today that the rig sank into the Atlantic Ocean and is now resting on the bottom.

Oil rig P36 sank slowly over the past four days. (Photos courtesy Petrobras)

There were 175 people on rig P36 at the time of the explosions.

The 33,000 tonne oil platform is the world's largest. The $350 million platform is in Roncador oil field in the Campos basin, which contains an estimated two billion barrels of crude. The field accounts for 60 percent of Brazilian crude oil production.

Petrobras experts and volunteers from environmental organizations are now scrambling to try to prevent a major oil spill into the Atlantic.

Petrobras said there are no indications of environmental damage, but it has deployed two sets of ocean barriers around the platform. They are supported by barges equipped for oil retrieval and storage.

The platform has tipped another four degrees since Sunday.

Petrobras said that there was "no danger" that an oil slick from the rig could reach the coastline 150 kilometers (93 miles) away.

Following the sinking, BirdLife International expressed concern that the critically endangered spectacled petrel (Procellaria conspicillata) and near threatened Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross (Thelassarche chlororhynchos) which occur in the area of the sinking could be potentially at risk from any oil spill that results.

The spectacled petrel is critically endangered because it is confined to one tiny island, Inaccessible Island, Tristan de Cuhna, UK Overseas Territory, when breeding and is likely to be declining because large numbers are being caught by longline fishing vessels, said Birdlife, a global network of organizations in 100 countries.

Sea Shepherd International founder and president Paul Watson has flown to Brazil to work with Instituto Sea Shepherd Brasil and officials of Petrobras on sparing wildlife from contact with oil that may be released by the sunken rig.

Sea Shepherd has announced the goal of creating an international coalition of oil producers and conservationists to sponsor and organize airborne teams of experts equipped with wildlife cleaning equipment that could reach any marine spill site within 12 hours.

Petrobras was considered one of the world's leading experts on deepwater production and the P36 epitomized its advanced technology. It began operations last year and was pumping 80,000 barrels of oil per day, less than half its projected capacity.

Petrobras has come under fire for its poor environmental and safety record. In January 2000, an underwater oil pipe at Petrobras' Reduc refinery near Rio De Janeiro broke, leaking 1.3 million liters (340,000 gallons) of crude into protected mangrove swamps in Guanabara Bay.

The area is expected to take at least a decade to recover and Petrobras was fined $28 million for the incident.

Ten people are believed to have died on P36.

Weeks later, the company was responsible for spilling 1,000 liters (270 gallons) of the toxic fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) near Rio de Janeiro.

In 1984, 34 Petrobras workers were killed in an oil platform explosion and fire and, according to unions, 35 oil workers have been killed since 1998 at Petrobras facilities.