Two Hurt in Petrobras Platform Accident; Output Halted

Brazil's state-led oil company Petrobras was forced to stop output at its P-56 offshore oil production ship on Wednesday in the Marlim Sul field after an explosion in an electrical panel started a fire and injured two workers, union officials said.

The explosion happened Wednesday morning causing first and second-degree burns to the workers's hands, Brazil's national petroleum workers federation, FUP, said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Production of oil and gas on the platform was stopped until 2 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, the union said. It did not say how much output was affected.

Petrobras, as the company is known, confirmed the explosion in an emailed statement on Thursday. It said the incident happened at 10:30 am local time on Wednesday with one of the workers taken ashore for medical attention and the other staying aboard.

Petrobras did not comment on whether production had been affected.

In March, the platform, 175 kilometers (109 miles) from shore, produced an average of 76,653 barrels per day of oil and 1.66 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, according to Brazil's petroleum regulator ANP.