Six people have been hurt in a fire on board the Petronas Carigali-operated Bekok C platform, about 200 kilometres off Peninsular Malaysia.
The fire started just after midnight today but was contained by an emergency response team working on board the platform, Petronas said in a statement.
The six injured crew have been taken to the Kuala Terengganu hospital for treatment, while the remaining 102 personnel have been evacuated to nearby platforms.
The Star newspaper reported that one of the injured workers was later sent to the ICU after his condition deteriorated.
The paper also reported Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Said visited the workers and said they were traumatised over the incident.
“They said sparks from one of the maintenance valves could have caused the fire. They were all panic-struck but were thankful there were no fatalities,” he said.
Bekok C platform was undergoing a scheduled shutdown for planned maintenance at the time of the incident.
An internal investigation into the incident is under way.
The Bekok C platform was said to have been in operation since the 1980s.
Bekok is an oil and gas discovery neigbouring the giant Tapis field. Gas from Bekok is understood to be exported via Tapis production facilities to Peninsular Malaysia.
A trade source told Reuters that Petronas could lose around 100 barrels of light sweet crude for export per month due to the fire, but how long this might continue is not clear.
"It's one of the fields linked to Tapis production, but it's not a major field," the source said.
Published: 14 December 2010 06:10 GMT | Last updated: 15 December 2010 06:28 GMT
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