Fire breaks out at Gulf of Mexico facility owned by Mexican state oil and gas provider Pemex

A fire broke out Sunday at a Gulf of Mexico facility run by the Mexican state oil and gas firm Pemex

A fire broke out on Sunday off the coast of Mexico at a facility run by Mexican state oil and gas firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) – prompting the evacuation of employees, according to reports.

The incident occurred at the Ku Alfa platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico, sources told Reuters, as images began to flood social media.

It wasn’t the first Pemex incident this month; in early August, a fire broke out at a facility in Oaxaca state.

According to local reports, the facility was operational at the time of the latest fire and workers were being evacuated. There were no immediate confirmed injuries reported.

Sunday’s fire happened at the Ku Maloob Zaap oil development, which was described to Reuters last month as the company’s most important.

The oilfields were discovered in 1980 and billions have been pumped into them ever since in an effort to increase production. The complex encompasses four oilfields, including Ku Alfa, where the Sunday fire erupted.

Ku Maloob Zaap is Pemex’s biggest crude oil producer, accounting for more than 40 per cent of its nearly 1.7 million barrels of daily output.

The cause of the latest fire was not immediately clear.