Mexico’s natural gas market has so far weathered a weekend fire on a Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) offshore platform, which knocked 25% of the country’s oil supply offline.

Tuxpan

The accident occured Sunday afternoon on the E-Ku-A2 platform in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap (KMZ) megafield when a natural gas leak ignited during routine maintenance. The fields also produce 694 MMcf/d of associated natural gas, or about 18% of Mexico’s total gas output.

Wood Mackenzie’s Ricardo Falcón, senior research analyst for Mexico gas, told NGI’s Mexico GPI that between gas days Monday and Tuesday (Aug. 23-24), the firm noticed a 0.36 Bcf/d drop in Mexican dry gas output to around 2.3 Bcf/d.

The timing “somewhat coincides with the incident at Pemex’s Ku-A complex,” he said. Production had...