Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has evacuated around 300 workers from the Permanent Abkatun platform in the Gulf of Mexico’s Bay of Campeche after an explosion caused a fire in the dehydration and pumping area.

Four people have reportedly died and 16 have been injured. Pemex said eight firefighting boats are battling and controlling the emergency.

A spokesman for Pemex told Reuters that the platform affected by the explosion produced approximately 40,000 barrels of oil per day.

"The platform affected by the explosion produced approximately 40,000 barrels of oil per day."

Pemex has reportedly faced several accidents in recent years. A total of 37 people were killed in 2013 due to a blast at the company’s Mexico City headquarters.

In September 2012, a fire at a Pemex natural gas facility in northern Mexico killed 26 people.

The latest explosion comes nearly five years after the 2010 oil spill by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

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The oil spill killed 11 people, and spread oil across seafood grounds and coastal beaches. BP contracted Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to develop the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2014, Mexico finalised a reform, which will allow private firms to share in oil profits for the first time in 75 years.

However, the sharp decline in global crude prices hit the expectations of an increase in private investments.