Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR continues work on dismantling and transportation of equipment from the broken down well at the Bulla-Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

SOCAR reported on September 1 that it has dismantled and transported to land about 50 percent of drilling equipment located on the Bulla-Deniz field.

"Preventive actions undertaken by specialists of SOCAR and the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the scene of accident are ongoing in accordance with the prescribed schedule," the company said.

SOCAR said earlier that 11 ships of the security department of SOCAR and the Ministry of Emergency Situations have been involved in the work on eliminating the breakdown and extinguishing a fire at the exploration well at the Bulla-Deniz field.

Three tanks containing 50 cubic meters of solution in each of them were loaded on board from the platform using a crane ship.

Cleaning work is underway on the platform.

SOCAR said on August 26 that it had localized the fire at the exploration well on Bulla-Deniz and stopped its horizontal spread.

The fire could have been extinguished. However, it was decided to prevent the breakdown by continuous flaring of gas to prevent sea pollution and maintain safety of the workers who are on the platform.

The fire had engulfed the exploration well No.90 in the northeast wing of the Bulla-Deniz field. The sea depth at the field is 26.5 meters.

According to SOCAR, the fire erupted at night on August 17 during drilling at a depth of 5,868 meters. A gas blowout occurred at 23:30 local time, which was followed by fire. As a result of the accident, some 60 platform workers were evacuated to safety and there are no casualties.

Earlier SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev told journalists that work was being conducted to establish the cause of the accident. According to preliminary data, the reason for the accident was high pressure which emerged when going through a productive layer.

The main task currently facing SOCAR is to save the well, which has revealed great potential.

The elimination program primarily is aimed at saving the production well.