Brazil Tries To Save Oil Rig by PETER MUELLO Associated Press Writer RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- A crippled oil rig slipped deeper into the south Atlantic on Friday, as federal petroleum giant Petrobras weighed the risks of trying to go aboard to prevent a spill of the 400,000 gallons of oil on board. Three explosions Thursday killed one worker and left nine other missing and presumed dead. ''We want to be sure it won't sink suddenly, and that if experts go aboard there is no risk,'' said Irani Varela, the company's director of security. The blasts damaged a pillar supporting the rig, Brazil's largest, 75 miles off the Atlantic coast. The rig was the top producer in the rich Campos Basin, 120 miles northeast of Rio, which accounts for most of the 1.5 million barrels Brazil produces daily. Petrobras said 164 people were ferried to safety. One worker died of burns and another was hospitalized in serious condition. Nine others were missing and presumed dead, Varela said. The rig was listing at a 30-degree angle and had sunk between 20 and 40 inches since Thursday, he said, adding that it had not tilted any further and there was still a chance to save it. ''We are working to recover it,'' Varela said. ''We are trying to remove part of the water (from flotation tanks) so it will return to a horizontal position.'' But Petrobras Chief Executive Henri Philippe Reichstul was more pessimistic, saying the rig could sink within 48 to 72 hours. ''Our efforts continue but the platform is sinking more and more,'' Reichstul said at a news conference. Thirteen ships with floating anti-oil barriers were stationed around the rig, he said. Some 400,000 gallons of crude oil and diesel fuel were still aboard and could spill into the sea if the rig sinks. Reichstul said Thursday there was no spill from the accident and that all the undersea oil and gas wells had been sealed. Meanwhile, Petrobras workers hung a huge black banner from the company's headquarters in downtown Rio on Friday in mourning for the victims and to protest against what some said were lax safety standards. Refinery workers also stopped work briefly. The accident has sparked a debate over recent changes in the company, which is trying to shed its image as an inefficient state-run behemoth. Under Reichstul, the company registered a record net profit of $5 billion last year. But Petrobras also has sharply reduced its payroll and hired private companies to do many jobs its own employees used to do. Critics say the private-sector workers are not as well trained, which increases safety risks. The accident also added to pessimism over the government's efforts to revert last year's trade deficit. Brazil will have to import oil to cover the 84,000 barrels a day the rig was producing, and the prospect of rising inflation and higher debt sent the currency, the real, to a two-year low, at 2.10 reals to the dollar. The Central Bank sold dollars and the real recovered slightly Friday. Petrobras Finance Director Ronnie Vaz Moreira said that if production at the site of the accident was not resumed this year, the company would have to shave $450 million from its projected 2001 earnings. AP-NY-03-16-01 1857EST< _______________________________ Denise Luna RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - The world's biggest offshore oil rig, hit by a series of blasts that apparently killed 10 people on Thursday, may sink in 48 hours as the chances of recovery fade, the rig's Brazilian (news - web sites) owners said on Friday. The president of state oil company Petrobras (news - web sites) Henri Philippe Reichstul also told reporters the possibility of finding any of nine missing workers alive was ``very remote´´. So far one person has been confirmed dead. ``Petrobras is in mourning,´´ he said. If the giant 40-story rig off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state sinks and damages shutters of underwater wells, it could cause Brazil's worst environmental catastrophe, according to engineers. Three powerful blasts rocked the rig with 175 workers aboard on Thursday. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. ``The prospects of stabilizing the platform are diminishing,´´ Reichstul said, adding that the company, Brazil´s biggest, was doing everything possible to save the rig. Workers were pumping nitrogen into the damaged hull of the platform to keep it afloat. The accident has jeopardized Petrobras' oil production goals. The rig, insured for $500 million, is listing to one side and slowly sinking as blasts had damaged one of its support columns. Officials said on Friday it was listing around 24 degrees, or over 2 times more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. ``If the rig sinks there is the distinct possibility that some or all of the 21 pipelines could rupture,´´ said Argemio Pertence, director of the Association of Engineers who worked for Petrobras for 25 years. ``It would be a catastrophe.´´ He said that if it does not sink there is virtually no risk of environmental damage. No spills have been reported so far. The P-36 rig could produce up to 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day, making it the world's biggest platform, but after starting operations last year, it was only pumping out 80,000 barrels daily, or 5 percent of Brazil's total output. Mourning And Protests If the death toll climbs, the incident could also be Petrobras' worst accident since 1984 when 36 people were killed in a platform explosion and fire. One worker was in a hospital with severe burns and doctors described his condition as ``very serious´´ on Friday. Petrobras lamented the incident in a statement in main newspapers: ``It was an accident of serious proportions and particularly painful as it involves the loss of human lives.´´ Public outrage mounted against Petrobras, which has had two major oil spills and a series of accidents in which 81 workers died in the last three years. Oil workers at Reduc, one of the country's biggest refineries, held a two-hour protest wearing black arm bands before punching in and employees at another refinery held a moment of silence for the victims of the explosion. ``I don´t know if I´ll be able to go back to work,´´ said a platform worker in Macae, where Petrobras´ heads up offshore operations for Rio state. ``I´ve always known that there is a constant risk but this just makes you think again.´´ Workers accuse Petrobras of outsourcing work to inexperienced workers to cut costs, thus putting employees at risk and endangering the environment. In January 2000, a Petrobras pipeline in Rio's scenic bay ruptured. The 340,000-gallon spill coated scores of marine birds and fish. The oil giant dumped more than four times as much crude into a major river six months later. LOSSES OF $50 MILLION A MONTH The rig is located in the Roncador oil field 78 miles offshore in the Campos Basin, which produces 80 percent of crude in Brazil's booming oil industry. If the immense platform, whose deck is now dipping into the water, did sink, it could still dump the 316,000 gallons of diesel and 79,000 gallons of crude stored on the rig into the open sea. Petrobras said it had five ships around the rig able to contain this potential spill. All production was halted at P-36 and Petrobras said it could lose $50 million a month with the rig out of operation. Oil imports would then rise, hurting Brazil's fragile trade balance. _______________________________________________ CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
