Offshore Rig Takes on Water, Anadarko Halts Ops in GOM

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has suspended operations on an offshore drilling rig Tuesday after being hit by a large storm wave in the Gulf of Mexico at around 3 a.m., John Christiansen, Anadarko’s director of External Communications, told Rigzone. The incident happened about 130 miles from Galveston.

Large waves associated with a recent cold front caused the ENSCO 8506 (UDW semisub) to drift a short distance off location and take on water in a ballast tank inside one of the semisub’s four columns. Rig is stable on even keel, pumps keeping with water ingress, reported USCG Houston. Situated in 3,571 feet of water, the deepwater drilling rig wasn’t engaged in any drilling and didn’t have any oil products on board when a weather front moved through the East Breaks 645 block rocking the facility, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Anadarko said 116 crew members are accounted for and uninjured and there have been no evacuations.

USCG planes and Coast Guard Cutter Skipjack are monitoring the situation.