A blaze on the sea surface of the Gulf of Mexico off Campeche was detected, early Friday morning. It looked like a large "eye of fire" according to Mexico's state oil company Pemex.

Television pictures showed orange flames resembling molten lava eye of fire not far from an offshore Pemex oil platform.

It reminded some people of BP’s Deepwater Horizon incident. In a Pemex statement, it said the cause of the fire, was blamed on a gas leak from an underwater pipeline, happened at 5:15 a.m. local time off the coast of Campeche. The problem has been now brought under control.

Pemex is investigating the cause of the incident. Angel Carrizales, head of Mexico's oil safety regulator ASEA, wrote on Twitter that the incident "did not generate any spill," reports the Reuters news agency, but did not explain what was burning on the water's surface.

Pemex, which has a long record of major industrial accidents at its facilities, both onshore and offshore. It has shut the valves of the 12-inch-diameter pipeline leading to the pipeline leak.