Mexico City: Environmentalists criticized Mexico’s state-owned oil company Saturday after a gas leak in an underwater pipeline caught fire and caused waters in the Gulf of Mexico to become too hot. Greenpeace Mexico said Friday’s crash appeared to be caused by an underwater valve failure and that it showed the dangers of Mexico’s policy of promoting fossil fuels.
President Andres Manuel López Obrador has put a strong emphasis on digging more oil wells and buying or building an oil refinery. He has described oil as “the best business in the world”. Greenpeace said in a statement that the fire, which took more than five hours to extinguish, “reflects the serious threats that Mexico’s fossil fuel model poses to the environment and people’s safety.”
Climate activist Greta Thunberg re-posted a video clip of the fiery ball of fire on her Twitter account. Thunberg wrote, “Those in power are describing themselves as climate leaders who are opening new oil fields, pipelines, and coal power plants – granting new licenses for future oil exploration. They are leaving this world for us.” Mexico’s state-run oil company said on Friday that an undersea gas pipeline exploded near an excavation area in the Gulf. The country’s fire department ‘Petroleos Mexicanos’ sent fire control boats to the spot to douse the fire and to pour water. The company Pemex said no one was injured in the incident near the coast in the Ku Malub Jaap area. It is not clear how much damage has been done to the environment due to the gas leak and the fiery explosion in the sea.
