NEW ORLEANS, La. -- A mile-long oil sheen spread Thursday from an offshore petroleum platform burning in the Gulf of Mexico off Lousiana, west of the site of BP's massive spill.

The platform, which produces oil and gas, caught fire early Thursday. The scene is west of the site of the massive BP spill.

Patrick Cassidy, a spokesman for Mariner Energy, said that the seven wells under the platform, which last week produced 1,400 barrels of oil per day and 9.2 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, were shut in.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough says the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy Incorporated. The rig is called the Vermilion Block 380.

He says Mariner had deployed three firefighting vessels to the site and one already was in place fighting the blaze.

The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the explosion and fire, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the site around 9 a.m. CDT. All 13 people aboard the rig were rescued as they floated in the nearby water in survival outfits called gumby suits.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast.