Hess forced to evacuate rig, crew on weather condition
Thursday, January 4 2007 - 01:20 AM WIB
US oil, gas company Hess Corp. was forced to evacuate a drilling rig and its crew that was operating in Ujung Pangkah PSC offshore East Java due to bad weather condition, a BPMIGAS official said on Thursday.
Deputy chairman Dodi Hidayat told Petromindo.Com that the MTR-1 rig and its crews had been safely evacuated to the port of Tanjung Perak in East Java?s capital of Surabaya on December 30, 2006.
The rig, which is owned by Mermaid Drilling, is leased to conduct development drilling in the PSC. The block?s gas field is scheduled to flow first gas in the second quarter of this year. Hess has 75 percent interest in Ujung Pangkah PSC.
An official said drilling works would resume once the weather condition allowed.
Most of Indonesian waters had been hit with bad weather condition and high tide over the past few weeks. (godang)