NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A U.S. federal regulator said it opened an investigation into a fatality reported on a drill ship deployed by Chevron in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Chevron reported the fatality to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The incident was on the Pacific Santa Ana drillship, which was just starting drilling operations in the deep waters off the coast of Louisiana.
"According to the operator, operations on the drillship have been shut down. There were no other injuries reported and personnel remain on the drill ship," BSEE said in a statement. "There was no reported pollution."
The rig was leased by Chevron from Pacific Drilling, which had no statement on the incident. The Pacific Santa Ana drillship was made available to Shell in May and one of the few deployed by Shell in deep U.S. waters.
Chevron said its daily production from the Gulf of Mexico was around 82,000 barrels of crude oil and 67 million cubic feet of natural gas per day as of 2014.
The BSEE and Coast Guard inspectors were at the site gathering evidence about the fatality. Both agencies will be investigating the incident.
