Petrobras Rules out Major Oil Spill in Rig Accident

World's biggest offshore oil rig blasted

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Brazilian oil giant Petrobras ruled out the possibility on Saturday that oil would spring from deep sea wells if its rig sank following an explosion two days ago.

"The wellheads are completely closed and there is no chance they will be damaged or open if the platform sinks because they are not under the platform," Petrobras official Carlos Tadeu Fraga told Reuters.

"Our submarines checked them two times and they are securely closed. An oil spill from the bottom is ruled out."

The wellheads are nearly 1 mile (1.3 km) below the surface.

The rig, the world's largest offshore platform, is keeling over and could sink after three blasts on Thursday opened a hole in one of the four supporting columns, and water flooded in. Petrobas said 10 workers from the fire brigade died in the accident.

Fraga said the maximum spill would be 395,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of crude and diesel in pipelines and onboard tanks.

"And we have means to contain it and even more ," said Fraga, a Petrobras director of exploration and production.

Petrobras has sent 19 boats to the area, some to place floating absorption barriers around the rig, located in Brazil's Campos Basin 80 miles (120 km) off the coast in Rio de Janeiro state.

A team of 30 people, including engineers, divers and two consultants from the United States, is trying to right the platform by injecting compressed air and nitrogen into the submerged column and sucking out the ocean water.

Fraga said 11 Dutch water specialists and 50 tonnes of suction and hose equipment from Europe were in transit to Macae, the coastal city that serves the Campos Basin.