Natural gas well off US coast catches fire

A FEDERAL official has confirmed that a fire has broken out on a blown-out Gulf of Mexico gas well.

Eileen Angelico of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement confirmed that the evacuated rig caught fire late on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The 44 workers on the drilling rig were evacuated early on Tuesday when the blowout occurred.

Angelico says it wasn't immediately clear what caused the gas to ignite. And it wasn't known what efforts to extinguish the blaze were being made early on Wednesday.

Personnel with Wild Well Control Inc were at the site to assess how and when to try to bring the well under control.

The site is about 88km off the Louisiana coast.

The drilling rig is owned by Hercules Offshore Inc. Executive vice president Jim Noe says experts will assess the well site and develop a plan to shut down the flow of gas.

Noe stressed that gas, not oil, was flowing from the well.

He says it's an important distinction because gas wells in relatively shallow areas - this one was in 47 metres of water - sometimes tend to clog with sand, effectively snuffing themselves out.

"That is a distinct possibility at this point," he said. "But until we have our (well control) personnel on the rig, we won't know much more."

Kevin Davis, head of the Louisiana governor's homeland security office, said: "According to federal officials, there is no imminent danger at this time."

Nonetheless, the Coast Guard is keeping nautical traffic 500 metres away from the site, where the spewing gas poses a fire hazard, and the Federal Aviation Administration has restricted aircraft up to 2000 feet (610 metres) above the area.

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