ENSCO Drilling Rig Catches Fire

ENSCO 8502, image: ENSCO

gCaptain sources report this afternoon the ENSCO 8502 deepwater drilling rig suffered a fire today while operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the report noting installed CO2 was engaged to put out a fire in one of the rig’s two engine rooms.

The were no injuries reported, the rig is currently stable and anchored to the sea floor being held in position via three tugs with the blow out preventer closed, according to a source close to the matter.  The Coast Guard says the rig will not be evacuated.

A gCaptain source close to the incident tells us that three of the rigs main engines were heavily damaged as a result of the fire and the rig had just come back on contract after experiencing upwards 40+ days of downtime.

The DP-2 ENSCO 8502 was built in 2010 by Keppel Corporation and is on contract to Talos Energy.

We have reached out to ENSCO and Talos Energy for further comment on the incident.

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