Gulf of Mexico natural gas well stops flowing gas and fire is subsiding

The leaking natural gas well in the Gulf of Mexico has stopped flowing, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed on Thursday morning. The fire has decreased to a small flame fueled by residual gas at the top of the well, the agencies reported.

The well 55 miles offshore Louisiana has bridged over, they stated, based in part on flights over the site on Thursday morning. Bridging occurs when small pieces of sediment and sand flow into the well's path and restrict it, ultimately stopping the flow.

BSEE and Coast Guard officials state that they will continue overseeing response efforts until the incident has come to a complete and safe resolution that includes securing the well.

The well suffered a blowout about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday and the rig caught fire about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday when the leaking natural gas ignited, according to BSEE and Coast Guard accounts.

No one was on board at the time of the ignition and no one was injured, according to BSEE. The rig is southwest of Grand Isle.

During BSEE and Coast Guard officials flyover of the site on Wednesday morning, they had not seen a sheen on the water surface. BSEE inspectors had reported a sheen a mile long by 50 feet wide during a flyover Tuesday.

As the rig fire had continued on Wednesday, beams supporting the derrick and rig floor? folded and collapsed over the rig structure, BSEE stated.

BSEE officials said the source of the blowout and the ignition remain unknown.

All 44 people on the rig -- which BSEE corrected late Tuesday from the earlier reports of 47 people on the rig -- were safely evacuated, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the incident on the Hercules No. 265 rig.

The rig was in 154 feet of water and the well itself was reported as about 8,000-feet deep, according to Jim Noe, an executive vice president with rig owner Hercules Offshore.

The rig is owned by Hercules Offshore, based in Houston, and operated by Houston-based Walter Oil & Gas Corp.

Eileen Angelico, a BSEE spokeswoman, said on Wednesday afternoon that the well had a blowout preventer, but "no determinations have been made as to whether the blowout preventer was activated or functioned properly."

"That will be part of BSEE's comprehensive investigation into the cause of the loss of well control," Angelico said.

Noe said that, "once things settle, we will certainly start looking at potential causes, including the BOP," referencing that blowout preventer.

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