No injuries, signs of spill in Gulf rig explosion

HOUSTON (Reuters) - An oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on Thursday in an accident that recalled the worst offshore oil spill in history, though there appeared to be no injuries and no initial signs of pollution.

All 13 crew members on the burning rig were evacuated to another offshore platform, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The fire has been contained but is not yet extinguished, the Coast Guard said.

The crew did not suffer any injuries, said the owner of the rig, Mariner Energy Inc. An initial flyover showed no evidence of hydrocarbon spilling, Mariner said.

The platform is located more than 90 miles (145 km) south of Louisiana's Vermilion Bay, west of BP Plc's ruptured Macondo well that killed 11 people and caused the world's worst offshore oil spill.

The platform was undergoing maintenance and was not in active production, the U.S. Interior Department said. The platform was authorized to produce oil and natural gas.

The cause of the explosion was not known. The facility averaged 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil and condensate per day during the last week of August, Mariner said.

News of the fire helped push up crude oil prices 40 cents, or 0.54 percent, to $74.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Shares of Mariner Energy fell 4 percent to $22.40 and shares of Apache Corp, which is expected to buy Mariner Energy, also fell 1.96 percent to $90.

(Additional reporting by Kristen Hays, Anna Driver and Eileen O'Grady in Houston, Tom Doggett and Ayesha Rascoe in Washington; writing by Andy Sullivan; editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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