Gas blowout at Pertamina's Bekasi well controlled

Workers of state oil and gas firm Pertamina have succeeded to control gas blowout at the PDT-01 oil well in Pondok Tengah field in Bekasi, West Java, a company official said.

"Yesterday afternoon Pertamina completed their work of installing a blow out preventer at the wellhead," the company's media relations manager M. Harun said in a statement on Tuesday.

Harun said the gas is now safely flowing into the flare stack.

He added that mud would be injected into the well to stop the gas flow completely.

Pertamina's workers had worked round the clock to control the gas blowout, which began on March 16.

The incident occurred when equipment known as a "Christmas tree" was being installed in the well during a production test.

About 500 villagers, who had been evacuated immediately after the incident occurred, on Monday began to return to their homes.

Oil leaking out of the well reportedly had polluted the area within a radius of one kilometer of the well. (*)