Incident forces Medco to suspend drilling

IDX-listed energy firm PT Medco Energi International Tbk. reported on Friday that a drilling incident had occurred at South & Central Sumatra PSC , onshore South Sumatra on September 13, 2011, which had forced drilling activities to be suspended.

The company reported that around 23:00 pm, there had been an unintended flow of gas from Lagan Deep-I well. The flow of gas occurred when drilling of the well reached a depth of approximately 800 meters (2,678 foot) of the total planned depth of 3,500 meters (11,500 foot).

The pumping of lost circulation material has been performed, but well continued to experience unintended flow of gas, along with the flow of fluids to the surface around the point of well. Therefore, the drilling activity was temporarily suspended.

There was no fatality caused by the incident, the company reported, adding that the flow of gas or fluids that comes out of the well is non-toxic and harmless.

?Due to this incident, the company has declared emergency condition. All necessary safety measures and best efforts are being taken to overcome the problem," the company said, adding that at the time of the report the company was continuing activities to restore all wells to normal condition.

The South & Central Sumatra PSC is a producing block operated by Medco?s upstream subsidiary PT Medco E&P Indonesia. (romel)