The fire at well №71, drilled from platform №19 in the shallow part of the Guneshli field has been extinguished, according to the joint report of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan and SOCAR.
‘In the morning hours of September 27, the fire was extinguished at the well and the leak was stopped,’ the statement said.
The statement stressed that the leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and SOCAR were at the scene.
Note that a low-pressure gas leak occurred on September 26 in the morning during the repair work on well №71, which then passed into a gas blowout. At 18 a.m. local time in the process of work to close the gas blowout on well №71 as a result of an instantaneous gas leak a flash fire occurred.
All the 69 SOCAR employees were evacuated from platform №19 and there were no injuries.
The incident is under investigation.
As Turan IA was told in the Production Association Azneft (the extractive entity of SOCAR), the platform was put into operation in June 2001. The service life of the platform is 50 years. Prior to the accident on the platform, nine oil wells and three gas wells were operated, producing daily 934 tons of oil and 695 thousand cubic meters of natural gas. Well №71 has been suspended for the repair from May 15 this year. Repair work on the well has almost been completed, and suddenly the gas entered the well.
The field ensures up to 65% of the SOCAR oil production.
