Petrobras Sends 20 Ships To Monitor Oil Spill
Petrobras moved about 200 men and 20 ships to monitor oil spilled offshore after the world's biggest rig was rocked by blasts and sank earlier this month. On March 15, three blasts ripped through Petrobras' 40-storey platform, the world's biggest oil rig, killing 11 and spilling about 11,000 gallons of diesel oil. Petrobras has mobilized 11,000 m of retaining barriers, 21 oil collecting units, 18 suction pumps and 40,000 liters of dispersing chemical agent to the platform off the coast of Rio state, the firm said in a statement. "Luckily for everybody it was not an environmental disaster," said Carlos Henrique Mendes, regional director for Brazil's state environmental institute, Ibama.
Worlds Largest Rig Still Afloat
Crews managed to prevent the world's largest offshore oil rig from sinking farther into the sea on Monday, four days after explosions crippled its structure and killed 10, its Brazilian owners said. They said the 40-story platform belonging to Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras had stabilized by Monday evening after workers pumped enough water out of the submerged compartments. They are injecting nitrogen and compressed air in a bid to remove nearly 3,000 tons of water weighing down the rig. Even so, the platform was listing more than ever, at a 27-degree angle. In the last 24 hours it has sunk 1.3 feet (40 cm). The platform has sunk almost 15 feet (4.6 m) since the blasts.