SOCAR cleans part of damaged well area at Bulla-Deniz field
By Aynur Jafarova
The northern and southern sections of the area of the broken down well at the Bulla-Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea have been completely cleaned from extraneous objects with the use of fire prevention ships and Z. Hajiyev crane ship, Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR said on September 6.
Furthermore, according to the plan on eliminating the breakdown, cleaning is also to be carried out at the remaining parts of the well's area.
The equipment needed for the elimination of the breakdown has been loaded to the Gurban Abbasov crane ship.
Work on launching water pumps to the towing vessels has been completed as well.
Fire had engulfed the exploration well No.90 in the northeast section 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 no casualties were reported.
Earlier SOCAR and the Boots & Coots service of the U.S. Halliburton company checked the mouth of the broken down well in the Bulla-Deniz field.
Measuring work was conducted by using special equipment. As a result it was determined that daily flow-rate of gas in the well amounts to 2.5-3 million cubic meters.
SOCAR and Boots & Coots have discussed elimination of the emergency at the well and its closure, prepared a joint plan and determined the sequence of work in this regard.
SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev told journalists on September 3 that the company has set an aim to save the well on the Bulla-Deniz field where the accident occurred earlier and the fire is continuing. According to him, the company could have extinguished the fire by liquidating the well. However, the goal is to save and operate it, as the well yielded excellent results in terms of production following drilling operations.
SOCAR managed to localize the fire at the platform and move it to a vertical plane, which simplifies the process of firefighting. Furthermore, the equipment was removed from the platform.
SOCAR said earlier it had completed cleaning the drilling platform equipment at the damaged well.