Azerbaijan offshore oil rig fire: 1 worker dead, 30 missing

At least one worker was killed and30 others were missing on Saturday after an Azeri oil platformcaught fire during high winds in the Caspian Sea on Friday,state energy company SOCAR said.

As hopes of finding survivors faded, SOCAR said a severestorm was hampering rescue efforts at its platform in theGuneshli oil field.

"One body was found and a search-and-rescue operation for 30missing workers is under way," it said in a statement, addingthat 32 workers had been safely evacuated.

Earlier on Saturday, the head of Azerbaijan's Oil Workers'Rights Protection Committee, Mirvari Gakhramanly, told Reuters32 workers had died and 42 had been rescued overnight.

The fire started after the storm damaged a natural gaspipeline, causing the platform's partial collapse.

Fear of more fireshalts oil production

Oil production on 28 oil wells linked to the facility wassuspended and all oil and gas pipelines, which link the platformwith the land, were blocked as a safety precaution, SOCAR addedin the joint statement with the emergency ministry and thecountry's chief prosecutor.

"The fire in the gas pipeline has not been completelyextinguished and it has not been ruled out that it could spreadto oil and gas wells near the platform," it said.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to create aspecial commission to deal with the accident and control therescue operation. A criminal case was opened to investigate theincident.

3 workers missing in separate incident

About 60 per cent of SOCAR's oil production passes throughthe platform where the fire broke out, meaning the statecompany's output will be temporarily hit.

The bulk of Azerbaijan's oil is produced elsewhere, however,including on fields operated by British oil major BP.

BP Azerbaijan was not available for comment on Saturday onwhether adverse weather in the Caspian or the fire on SOCAR'splatform had affected its production.

In a separate incident, SOCAR said on Friday that threeworkers were missing from another of its offshore oil platformsin the Caspian after an accident during the storm. The workerswere still missing as of Saturday.

Fourteen workers were killed in accidents on SOCAR's oil andgas platforms in 2014.