Australia's Santos: Anggur-1 fire out; Gas still escaping
Wednesday, November 8 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Santos Ltd., an Australian oil and gas company, said Tuesday that a fire on a rig at the Anggur 1 exploration well is out, but gas is still escaping from the well bore.
Equipment required to allow the well to be plugged and abandoned is being moved to Anggur 1, which lies in the Madura Straits of Indonesia. Once completed, the company said it will make an assessment of the cause of last week's gas blowout and the future drilling program of the Sampang production-sharing contract.
Santos, which is operator of the contract and a 45% equity holder in the venture, said insurance is expected to cover most of the cost of damage from the blowout.
The other partners in the Sampang contract are Coastal Indonesia Sampang Ltd. with 40% and Cue Sampang Pty. Ltd. with 15%.
Around 0115 GMT, Santos shares were up 3 cents at A$6.18.
Further information, company website is http://www.santos.com.au (*)