A substantial oil spill has been observed in the Gulf of Mexico near the location of a fatal explosion at a Petroleos Mexicanos natural gas platform, as reported by the Mexican newspaper Reforma.
According to the report, a scientist associated with environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, detected the leak on July 4, just days before the explosion occurred off the coast of Campeche, Mexico. The spill’s initial extent was approximately 400 square kilometers (154 square miles), and it may have expanded to around two-thirds the size of Mexico City.
Despite these developments, a Pemex representative has yet to respond to requests for comments.
Although there is no immediate evidence linking the oil spill to the earlier gas platform blast, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, a leading researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, revealed that this spill surpasses typical platform leaks in size. Irakulis-Loitxate’s previous study disclosed two significant methane leaks from a Pemex offshore platform.
Considering that the spill began before the gas platform fire in early July, she expressed the belief that these are two unrelated yet coincidental incidents. However, she did raise concerns about the spill’s scale and duration, which are both exceptionally alarming.
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