Chevron reports one of their drill rigs caught on fire this morning off the southern Niger Delta near their North Apoi production platform. Reuters reports it’s a jackup rig, the K.S. Endeavor, which means it was working in water less than 300′ deep; the Apoi field is close to shore.  Some of the rig workers are still missing. Hopefully in this incident, no lives have been lost.

We’re looking for satellite imagery to monitor the situation.  Any time a drill rig catches fire there is the potential for a spill or gas release.

Chevron is also battling the fallout from their recent oil spill in deepwater off Brazil, and their ongoing legal battle over oil pollution in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador, which they inherited when they bought Texaco in 2001.