An out-of-control natural gas well off the Louisiana coast continued to burn Wednesday after it caught fire following a blowout that prompted the evacuation of 44 workers, authorities said. 
 
 This photo released by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement shows natural gas spewing from the Hercules 265 drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Tuesday, July 23,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Map locates gas well accident in the Gulf of Mexico; 2c x 2 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 63 mm; (Associated Press) 
 
 Meanwhile, officials stressed that Tuesday's blowout wouldn't be close to as damaging as the 2010 BP oil spill, in which an oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers and eventually spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 No injuries were reported as a result of Tuesday night's fire, Eileen Angelico, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, told The Associated Press. 
 
 She said it wasn't known what caused the gas to ignite. It also wasn't clear early Wednesday how and when crews would attempt to extinguish the blaze. BSEE said earlier Tuesday that a firefighting vessel with water and foam capabilities had been dispatched to the scene. 
 
 Wild Well Control Inc. was hired to try to bring the well under control. Angelico said Wild Well personnel approached the well earlier Tuesday night, before the fire, but they determined it was unsafe to get closer when they were about 200 feet (60 meters) away from it. 
 
 The gas blowout was reported Tuesday morning. 
 
 The Coast Guard kept nautical traffic out of an area within 500 meters (500 yards) of the site throughout the day. The Federal Aviation Administration restricted aircraft up to 2,000 feet (600 meters) above the area. 
 
 BSEE said inspectors flying over the site soon after the blowout saw a light sheen covering an area about a half-mile by 50 feet (15 meters). However, it was dissipating quickly. 
 
 Earlier this month, a gas well off the Louisiana coast flowed for several days before being sealed. 
 
 Chris Roberts, a member of the Jefferson Parish Council in south Louisiana, said the travel restrictions might pose an inconvenience for participants in an upcoming deep sea fishing tournament. 
 
 "It could change some plans as to where some people plan to fish," he said. 
 
 Tuesday's blowout occurred near an unmanned offshore gas platform that was not currently producing natural gas, said Angelico. The workers were aboard a portable drilling rig known as a jackup rig, owned by Hercules Offshore Inc., which was a contractor for exploration and production company Walter Oil & Gas Corp. 
 
 Walter Oil & Gas reported to the BSEE that the rig was completing a "sidetrack well" _ a means of re-entering the original well bore, Angelico said. 
 
 The purpose of the sidetrack well in this instance was not immediately clear. A spokesman for the corporation did not have the information Tuesday night. Industry websites say sidetrack wells are sometimes drilled to remedy a problem with the existing well bore. 
 
 "It's a way to overcome an engineering problem with the original well," Ken Medlock, an energy expert at Rice University's Baker Institute said. "They're not drilled all the time, but it's not new." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this story. ||||| "This is not going to be another BP oil spill." - Terrebonne President Michel Claudet 
 
 The operator of the natural gas rig burning out of control in the Gulf of Mexico has begun preparations to move a jack-up rig to the location to potentially drill a relief well, federal authorities said Wednesday. The well suffered a blowout Tuesday morning and the rig caught fire later Tuesday night when the leaking natural gas ignited, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement confirmed early Wednesday morning. 
 
 
 
 No one was on board at the time of the ignition and no one was injured, according to BSEE. The burning rig is southwest of Grand Isle, about 55 miles offshore, authorities said. 
 
 
 
 BSEE and Coast Guard officials flew over the site on Wednesday morning and BSEE stated that there was no sheen observed on the water surface. A sheen a mile long by 50 feet wide had been reported during a flyover Tuesday. 
 
 As the rig fire continued, the beams supporting the derrick and rig floor folded and collapsed over the rig structure, BSEE stated. 
 
 The Coast Guard confirmed the rig caught fire at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday. BSEE said the source of the ignition was not known. 
 
 
 
 The National Response Center, which takes calls about spills and other industrial incidents, received a report around 11 a.m. Tuesday from a caller who said "a drilling rig incurred a well blow resulting in a release of approximately 7 barrels an hour," according to the report. The description of the incident also lists that 47 people had been evacuated from the rig, although that number later was corrected to 44 evacuees. 
 
 Coast Guard and BSEE officials would not immediately comment on the report's accuracy or who had reported the release of crude oil. Often, the National Response Center is notified of an incident and then the response center contacts the local Coast Guard office, which will check out the report. 
 
 But Frank Maisano, a media consultant for Hercules Offshore, said that "was a very preliminary report and probably is in error." 
 
 "It is definitely a gas leak. There is definitely no crude oil at all," Maisano said on Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 The rig is owned by Hercules Offshore, based in Houston, and operated by Houston-based Walter Oil & Gas Corp., according to BSEE. 
 
 Jim Noe, an executive vice president with rig owner Hercules Offshore, said on Wednesday that the well was about 8,000-feet below the surface of the seafloor. 
 
 "Our singular focus right now is to regain control of the well," Noe said. "After that, we will look for a root cause to what happened, try to find out how this accident happened in the first place." 
 
 The blowout occurred as Walter Oil & Gas was completing work on a "sidetrack well" to prepare that well for new production, according to BSEE. A sidetrack well uses the same hole as the original well but then spreads to a new location at the same depth. 
 
 Walter Oil and Gas Corp. engaged Wild Well Control Inc. to help control the leak, Noe said. 
 
 Eileen Angelico, a BSEE spokeswoman, said on Wednesday that the well had a blowout preventer, but "no determinations have been made as to whether the blowout preventer was activated or functioned properly." 
 
 "That will be part of BSEE's comprehensive investigation into the cause of the loss of well control," Angelico said. 
 
 Noe said that, "once things settle, we will certainly start looking at potential causes, including the BOP," referencing the blowout preventer. 
 
 The failure of a blowout preventer played a central role in the BP disaster in the Gulf in 2010. That catastrophe resulted in 11 deaths and millions of gallons of crude oil spewing into the Gulf. But authorities say this accident is nowhere near that scale. 
 
 "Nothing that I have received to date has caused me to panic in any way or form," Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said Tuesday. "This is not going to be another BP oil spill." 
 
 
 
 Nonetheless, officials are monitoring the situation closely, especially in Jefferson Parish where the annual Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo starts on Thursday. That event is expected to draw more than 15,000 sport and recreational fishers and tourists to Grand Isle. Jefferson Parish Council Chairman Chris Roberts said Wednesday morning that there are no changes expected to the Tarpon Rodeo because of the fire, except that there will be a 5-mile safe zone around the rig. 
 
 
 
 BSEE had stated on Tuesday that a firefighting vessel was expected to be on location on Tuesday evening with both water and foam fire fighting abilities. The Coast Guard cutter is on the scene maintaining a 500-meter safety zone, "assuring that no vessels or persons get close to the vicinity of the rig so that they aren't placed in danger," Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said on Wednesday morning. 
 
 The blowout happened about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. All 44 people on the rig -- which BSEE corrected late Tuesday from the earlier reports of 47 people on the rig -- were safely evacuated, authorities said. 
 
 "BSEE's efforts today are focused on bringing this loss of well control event to a safe resolution," Lars Herbst, BSEE's Gulf of Mexico regional director, said Tuesday. "Offshore oil and gas operators need to reaffirm their aggressive approach to the safety of well operations in light of this event and other recent well control events." 
 
 No injuries were reported in the incident on the Hercules No. 265 rig. The workers escaped the rig on two Hercules lifeboats, then transferred to an offshore supply vessel, the Max Cheramie, according to the Coast Guard. 
 
 The rig was 55 miles offshore in 154 feet of water, according to BSEE. 
 
 
 
 The evacuees were taken to Port Fourchon. Claudet said that a command center has been established at Louisiana 56 and Woodlawn Ranch Road in Houma. 
 
 Matthew Tarr, the chair of the University of New Orleans chemistry department, said the gas and the fire likely would not impact nearby communities because any chemicals likely would burn off in the fire or dissipate in the atmosphere before reaching land. 
 
 Claudet said Witt | O'Brien's is the spill management team and that it is responding to the site with Clean Gulf Associates. 
 
 NOLA.com | Times-Picayune reporter Naomi Martin contributed to this article. 
 
 
 

– A natural gas well is burning uncontrollably off the coast of Louisiana today, after a gas blowout caught fire yesterday, the AP reports. All 44 workers aboard evacuated when the gas leak started earlier in the day, and no one was aboard the well when it ignited at around 10:50pm local time, NBC News reports. It's unclear when or how the fire will be extinguished; personnel from Wild Well Inc. were called in last night, but determined that it wasn't safe enough to go within 200 feet of the well. A special firefighting boat has now been dispatched, a spokesman for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said. The bureau also reported seeing "a light sheen" on the water. Walter Oil & Gas Corp. were in the process of building a "sidetrack well" at the site when the blowout hit, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Local officials say they're watching the well closely "because if there is a natural gas cloud that continues to flow, then you run the risk of an explosion." But, says a local parish president, "nothing that I have received to date has caused me to panic in any way or form. This is not going to be another BP oil spill."