Earlier in the day, a statement on the Azerbaijan oil rig fire said that 32 SOCAR workers had been safely evacuated but at least one person died. SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state energy company operating the rig, said oil production on 28 oil wells linked to the facility was suspended and all oil and gas pipelines, which link the platform with the land, were blocked as a safety precaution. Poor weather conditions are continuing to hamper rescue efforts.
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He did not say how many workers were on the platform, but Azerbaijan’s media quoting various sources said that more than 60 people had been aboard when the storm hit.
The fire started overnight at a rig at the Gunashli field southeast of Neft Daşları (Oil Rocks) settlement.
President Ilham Aliyev established a state commission headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Yaqub Eyyubov to investigate the incident, state news agency Azartac reported.
The president of Azerbaijan said 32 workers were rescued and an operation is underway to find those still missing.
There were reports dozens of workers were still stranded on the platform. The workers in the other lifeboat were rescued Saturday, it said. Most of Azerbaijan’s oil is produced elsewhere, including fields operated by BP, a British oil company.
The missing workers were in a lifeboat that fell into stormy seas, according to a joint statement issued late Saturday by SOCAR, the country’s emergency services and the prosecutor general’s office.
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All in all, 14 workers were killed in accidents on SOCAR’s oil and gas platforms in 2014.
