Financial services firm Raymond James announced on September 13 that it is reluctantly downgrading Geokinetics Inc. (GOK:AMEX) to Market Perform from Outperform based on a recent accident in Mexico which caused at least three deaths. The company's balance sheet is highly leveraged, and its future ability to generate profit is largely dependent on Mexico, which creates a tenuous situation.

It was reported the week of September 5 that a liftboat working for the company was damaged by Tropical Storm Nate, according to the financial services firm. All 10 crew members that were onboard left the ship for a lifeboat. Immediately afterwards, a search and rescue mission was launched to find the boat. The boat was found on the morning on September 11, and it was reported that six crew members were reported to have survived. One crew member was still missing at the time of report.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the captain's last communication advised that the crew was planning on abandoning the lifeboat at noon on Thursday, after which all correspondence was blocked by weather conditions. The crew that experienced this ordeal included three independent contractors, four Trinity crewmen and three employees of Geokinetics.