Coast Guard searching for man in water by Gulf of Mexico platform

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a man who vanished near an offshore drilling platform in the Gulf Coast near Louisiana.

The Coast Guard’s New Orleans office was notified at about 6:26 a.m. Wednesday morning that a 54-year-old man was in the water near Renaissance Offshore’s Eugene Island 331 platform into the Gulf of Mexico. The platform is located about 75 nautical miles from Vermilion Bay, Louisiana, according to a release from the Coast Guard Wednesday afternoon.

The platform’s operators are working with Coast Guard helicopter, plane and boat crew to find the man.

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The man was last seen performing rounds on the rig before vanishing, a Coast Guard spokesman said. His next of kin have been notified but the Coast Guard is not releasing the man’s name or identifying characteristics for now at the family’s request.

It’s not clear how the man ended up in the water. The cause of the incident is under investigation, the agency said.

Renaissance Offshore spokesman Jay Morakis said the company is actively engaging in the search but doesn’t have additional information to report “beyond that a worker has been confirmed missing and that the Coast Guard has commenced a search to find him.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and we ask that you respect their privacy while the search is ongoing. We are actively working with the Coast Guard, and when we do have more information, we will share it when it is appropriate to do so,” Morakis said in a statement to the Chronicle.

Renaissance Offshore is a Houston-based oil and gas producer focused on offshore drilling off Mexico and the U.S. Gulf Coast. The company was founded in December 2011, to buy and develop legacy oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Renaissance’s website. Between 2012 and 2014 Renaissance grew substantially with the acquisition of sixteen Gulf of Mexico producing fields.

Renaissance said it has 130 employees and contractors, including five contractors running the Eugene Island 331 platform involved in Wednesday’s incident.