Iranian authorities have successfully contained a fire that erupted on a platform within the South Pars gas field, the world's largest offshore natural gas reserve. The incident occurred on Tuesday, as reported by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency, when a gas platform in Phase 14 of the South Pars field experienced an unexpected blaze that was promptly extinguished. During the incident, 17 workers were compelled to leap into the sea for safety; rescue operations are currently underway for their recovery.
According to Kourosh Dehghan, Bushehr Province's director general of crisis management, the 17 workers involved in the incident have been reported to be in good condition following their boarding of lifeboats and rescue craft. Three heavy rescue vessels were dispatched to the platform to retrieve the workers. The potential causes under consideration for the fire include either a gas leak or an operational mishap, as stated by Fars.
The affected platform contributes only 14.5 million cubic metres of South Pars's daily gas production, which exceeds 700 million cubic metres. Iran shares this reservoir with Qatar, whose portion is known as the North Dome. The South Pars/North Dome field holds an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet (51 trillion cubic metres) of usable gas, sufficient to meet global demands for a period of 13 years.
Further updates on the scale of the incident and the condition of the workers are expected to be released at a later time. Officials continue their investigations into the cause of the fire.