Doubts linger over Lapindo disaster
Last night, I had a chit-chat with a respected geologist, a former executive at multinational oil company and got the sense of almost-one-month hot mudflow from Lapindo Brantas Banjar Pandji-1 drilling well in Porong District, Sidoarjo, East Java.
He simply confirmed earlier statements from both minister of energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Police investigation about technical failure in the drilling activities behind the disaster.
"The earthquake that jolted Yogyakarta, 500 km away from Sidoarjo, has unsignificant impact on the earth's layers structure. The main reason was the neglience of installing casing in the drilling well," he said.
"The sad thing, I got information that the casing supplier was too late to deliver and yet they keep push the drilling," he said.
Another source told me that the company which supposedly supply the casing has close relationship with one of executives and shareholders of Lapindo.
Hope police could investigate thoroughly and free from political pressures, considering the big names implicated in the case.
The most important issue we discussed actually on what to do, how to solve the problem. So I asked his view on Lapindo's plan to install snubbing unit.
"Such strategy normally works at earlier stages of the leakages. I'm pretty sure that will not settle the issue as outflows of gas and liquids have been spreaded to too many points," he said.
He admitted snubbing would take months or may be years or ever. Worse, the area would be in a lifetime threat of mudflows. Well intervention and well relief are considered the better solutions. But it may also take months and logistic headache as it affect people's properties adjacent to the drilling activity.
Below are some letters from the readers:
Leter No.1
In these cases ultimate responsibilty falls with the CEO,Managing Director and the Board of the Operating Company.It should not affect production from the operators (Lapindo) assets. Question is did the Operator take undue risks as some comments suggest? If so they should be fined (personally) or locked up.
Who will conduct an inquiry and who will be involved? Independent Oil and Gas experts should be able to get to the truth. Some of the lies that Lapindo were talking about early on (the effect of the earthquake) are not a indication of their honesty.
Letter No.2
This is typical example of our oil and gas contractors who simply don't want to invest in good system of health, safety & environment (HSE). From earlier drilling in East Java, we already noticed gas hazards in the area, but the operator simply want to save cost and ignored safety procedures. This is clearly a production well, so there must be a lot of data available about the drilling activities.
The way they handle the disaster is also a disaster in itself.
READ MORE!!!
He simply confirmed earlier statements from both minister of energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Police investigation about technical failure in the drilling activities behind the disaster.
"The earthquake that jolted Yogyakarta, 500 km away from Sidoarjo, has unsignificant impact on the earth's layers structure. The main reason was the neglience of installing casing in the drilling well," he said.
"The sad thing, I got information that the casing supplier was too late to deliver and yet they keep push the drilling," he said.
Another source told me that the company which supposedly supply the casing has close relationship with one of executives and shareholders of Lapindo.
Hope police could investigate thoroughly and free from political pressures, considering the big names implicated in the case.
The most important issue we discussed actually on what to do, how to solve the problem. So I asked his view on Lapindo's plan to install snubbing unit.
"Such strategy normally works at earlier stages of the leakages. I'm pretty sure that will not settle the issue as outflows of gas and liquids have been spreaded to too many points," he said.
He admitted snubbing would take months or may be years or ever. Worse, the area would be in a lifetime threat of mudflows. Well intervention and well relief are considered the better solutions. But it may also take months and logistic headache as it affect people's properties adjacent to the drilling activity.
Below are some letters from the readers:
Leter No.1
In these cases ultimate responsibilty falls with the CEO,Managing Director and the Board of the Operating Company.It should not affect production from the operators (Lapindo) assets. Question is did the Operator take undue risks as some comments suggest? If so they should be fined (personally) or locked up.
Who will conduct an inquiry and who will be involved? Independent Oil and Gas experts should be able to get to the truth. Some of the lies that Lapindo were talking about early on (the effect of the earthquake) are not a indication of their honesty.
Letter No.2
This is typical example of our oil and gas contractors who simply don't want to invest in good system of health, safety & environment (HSE). From earlier drilling in East Java, we already noticed gas hazards in the area, but the operator simply want to save cost and ignored safety procedures. This is clearly a production well, so there must be a lot of data available about the drilling activities.
The way they handle the disaster is also a disaster in itself.
Labels: Lapindo, Purnomo Yusgiantoro
READ MORE!!!
posted by yosef at 10:18 AM
1 Comments:
What this is typical of is the state of the oil & gas industry in Indonesia today. There are so many small fields that have been developed over the past 18 months that they simply cannot get good people on the ground. Those with experience have moved up and out into management. They are spread too thin and owners are having a hard time getting good people for their teams. Usually it would just be the owners (and the bankers that fund them) who would suffer as lack of expertise leads to lack of optimization and low yields. However the risk of such accidents has been high for a while and the situation isn't improving. Anyone with cash and ambition can get a concession and start drilling holes into the ground. The real question is, where next?
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