Fire at Total?s Tunu gas field in Kalimantan still continues

Until Wednesday evening, the fire which hit TotalFinaElf Indonesia?s gas well in the Tunu E-5 Rig in the Maera area, Kitai Regency, East Kalimantan still continued, Kompas reported on Thursday.

A team of American experts believed that the fire was caused by the failure of the gas field?s blow out preventer (BOP) to operate. The failure, according to the experts, had caused a leakage in the gas and condensate from one of the pipes. It later resulted in high explosion, followed by fire and the collapse of the Maera rig.

"It is believed that the fire was caused by the failure of the BOP equipment. So the fire was caused by equipment failure not human error," Harve Madeo, the local manager of TotalFinaElf Indonesia, told reporters in a press conference on Wednesday. He said that the impact of the fire to the environment was minimal.

As the consequence of the fire, TotalFinaElf has closed 150 gas wells in the Tunu gas field. However, the closure will not affect the gas supply of about 2.3 to 2.4 billion cubic feet per day (BCFD) to the LNG Bontang plant. The five percent loss in the company?s gas production as the result of the fire could be offset by raising the gas production from the Peciko gas field, which is located near the Tunu field.

However, Madeo refused to unveil the financial loss that might be suffered by TotalFinaElf due to the fire. (*)