Gas kick incident occurs at PetroChina's Sukowati oil well
Saturday, July 29 2006 - 02:22 AM WIB
A ?gas kick? incident occurred at PetroChina East Java?s Sukowati 5 oil well during drilling work midnight on Friday. But field manager Victorio Kirana told Petromindo.com that by five the next morning, the fire at the well had been put under control.
Victorio said that the incident occurred when drilling reached a depth of 6,300 feet.
Deputy operational of upstream oil and gas regulator Dodi Hidayat confirmed the accident, which hurt 14 people (now in hospital), and forced the company to temporarily stop the drilling work.
PetroChina East Java, a joint venture with state oil and gas company Pertamina, operates the Sukowati oil field in Bojonegoro regency, East Java The field started operation in August 2004 with an output of 7.000 barrels per day.
Drilling work at well number 5 and 6 started in June and was expected to be completed in three months time. The drilling work is aimed at boosting oil production to 13,000 bpd. (Godang)