Environmental activists in Mexico are demanding an investigation into damage to the Gulf of Mexico after last Friday's underwater fireball.
Fire crews in the Gulf of Mexico spent several hours last week extinguishing an inferno which was underwater.
Mexico's state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, said on Monday a bizarre chain of events, including a lightning storm and a simultaneous gas pipeline leak, set off the strange subaquatic fire.
The company said an intense storm of rain and lightning last Friday forced the company to shut off pumping stations near the rig.
Simultaneously, the leak in an underwater pipeline allowed natural gas to build up on the ocean floor and once it rose to the surface it was probably ignited by a lightning bolt, the company said.
The accident unleashed a subaquatic fireball that appeared to boil the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and drew a hail of criticism from environmentalists.
Greenpeace Mexico said the fire, which took five hours to extinguish, "demonstrates the serious risks that Mexico's fossil fuel model poses for the environment and people's safety".
"It is too early to know exactly what is the magnitude of the impacts on the ecosystem caused by the leak and the explosion of the oil pipeline," the group wrote on its Twitter page.
"However, we know which are the species that inhabit the region and what are the impacts of natural gas on marine ecosystems."
The group is calling for the Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment (ASEA) to investigate the damage to marine life and the ecosystem in the area.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg reposted a video clip of the fire on her Twitter account, criticising politicians who allow oil drilling.
"Meanwhile the people in power call themselves 'climate leaders' as they open up new oilfields, pipelines and coal power plants — granting new oil licenses exploring future oil drilling sites," Ms Thunberg wrote.
"This is the world they are leaving for us."
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been supportive of drilling more wells and buying or building oil refineries during his administration.
He has touted oil as "the best business in the world".
AP/ABC
