Mariner Energy

No one died in the second major Gulf of Mexico oil rig mishap this year, and the fire aboard the Mariner Energy platform didn't lead to a spill. But that doesn't make it a win for America: More like a wake-up call that safety is still being given short shrift by the oil industry.

The recent fire at an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico has brought unexpected focus on the platform's owner, Mariner Energy. Here's more on a company that isn't well known outside oil circles.

The news of a fire on Vermillion, a Mariner Energy-owned oil-rig platform in the Gulf, drew instant comparisons with the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in April and caused the huge BP oil spill. But stark differences exist between the two incidents.

Another oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday gave fresh urgency to the debate over the Obama administration's moratorium on deepwater oil drilling. Environmental groups renewed their calls to maintain or expand the ban; advocates for removing it were more circumspect.

Oil and gas company Apache is doing its own exploration, snapping up rival Mariner Energy in a deal valued at $$2.7 billion, Apache announced Thursday. The merger will give Apache an entry into deep water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, where it has considered venturing for years. And it comes on the heels of another Gulf of Mexico acquisition announced earlier this week, when it acquired the shallow water oil assets of Devon Energy (DVN) for $1.05 billion.