Fire extinguished at oil wells, search area expanded
By Amina Nazarli
The fire at the oil wells on the platform #10 of Azerbaijan’s
offshore Guneshli field has been completely extinguished.
The statement was made by Spokesperson of the Azerbaijan's energy
giant SOCAR Nizamaddin Guliyev on December 17.
He noted that the work on extinguishing the fire at gas wells is at the final stage.
“We try to extinguish it in the shortest possible time,” the spokesman said. “After extinguishing the fire, the platform will be reconstructed and the wells will be put into operation again.”
Guliyev also added this enabled to completely prevent the environmental disaster due to the possible oil spill.
Earlier SOCAR reported that environmental monitoring conducted by specialists from Azerbaijan’s Emergency Situations Ministry, Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, SOCAR and BP on December 16 in the waters around the Gunashli and Oil Rocks offshore fields in the Caspian Sea did not revealed any serious oil spills.
A fire broke out on the offshore platform #10 of SOCAR’s Gunashli field on December 4, after an underwater high-pressure gas pipeline was damaged in strong storm. Out of 63 people who were on platform at the moment of accident only 33 were rescued, while 23 are still regarded missing with seven dead.
Meanwhile, searches have resumed this morning to find the oilmen missing in the Caspian Sea.
The search involves the personnel and technical staff of the country’s Emergency Situations Ministry and the State Border Service, according to Trend.
The search involves a total of eight vessels, 13 helicopters, a plane and divers.
SOCAR also said that the area of the search for the oilmen was expanded and an appeal has been send to the neighboring Caspian states and a search is underway along the maritime borders of these countries.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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