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MARINER ENERGY SHARES FALL AFTER PLATFORM EXPLODES |
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 Shares of Mariner Energy declined almost 3% today after in explosion in one of the company's production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico today. The accident, on Mariner's Vermilion Oil Platform 380, took place about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay, off he coast of Louisiana. The accident sent 13 workers tumbling into the ocean, but there were no casualties and little or nor oil appears to have spilled, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. A production platform is built after the drilling of an oil or gas well. It often remains in operation years later, pumping pressure down the well to keep the oil flowing. Some industry analysts speculated that since the platform is located in the Gulf Shell, which is not a deepwater area, the platform would not be subject to President Obama's ban on deep water drilling. However, according to Frank Verrastro, director of the energy and national-security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., "If anything, the Obama Administration's clam that a moratotium was needed to understand the causes of major accidents at offshore facilties - and how to stop them - was strengthened by Thursday's accident." . . . Stay tuned.
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