Residents evacuated due to gas blowout at Pertamina oil well

Hundreds of residents living near the Babelan oil field in Bekasi, West Java were evacuated to neighboring villages on Tuesday after a gas blowout incident at an oil well owned by state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, Kompas reported on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in the early morning on Tuesday, causing a panic to the residents living near the area, the daily reported. The residents located within 200 meters from the area were later evacuated to save them from possible fires.

Manager of Pertamina’s upstream operation for West Java, Bambang Busono, said that the existing equipment failed to control the gas pressure from one of the field’s drilling location, causing a leak in the pipe.

He said the state-owned oil and gas company was still trying to stop the gas blowout so that the incident would not worsen. Bambang also said that Pertamina would be responsible from any losses resulting from the incident.

Meanwhile, Dow Jones reported that Pertamina expected to repair the leak in two days.(*)