The Jakarta Post | Fri, 12/26/2008 9:05 PM
The upstream oil and gas regulator (BP Migas) stated Friday afternoon that the mud and gas eruption in Gresik was harmless and that it was of a different nature from the ongoing mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.
"This is not an extraordinary incident and it's harmless. The public came to the scene out of curiosity," said BP Migas spokesperson Agus Trinugroho near the scene of the incident in Sekarkurung village.
Agus explained the incident occurred because of a failure in the drilling process jointly undertaken by Indonesia's oil and gas firm Pertamina and China's Petrochina.
Earlier, BP Migas had reported the spewing mud and gas began when the drilling operators were replacing one drill bit with another.
Agus said the Gresik gas and mud spew was caused solely by the failure of the drill bit whereas the mudflow in Sidoardjo was caused by an earthquake.
"It's different, so there's nothing to worry about," he said.
He added incidents like this were commonplace in a drilling operation. "It was the pulling out of the drill bit and the bore from the well that caused a reactive kickback of mud and gas to come out of the ground," he said.
"We will solve this step by step. Later tonight we will try to put the bore back down the well to 2,300 feet below the ground using a 958-inch pipe," he said. (and)
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