Page 5 - AsianOil Week 30

AsianOil SOUTH ASIA AsianOil

OIL slammed by Assam blowout investigation

PROJECTS & STATE-RUN Oil India Ltd (OIL) has been OIL did not have the necessary operating
COMPANIES slammed by a government-order investigation approvals outlined in the Water (Prevention
into the blow out and subsequent explosion of a & Control of Pollution) and Air (Prevention &
gas and condensate well at the company’s Bagh- Control of Pollution) Acts before it began drill-
jan field in Assam State. ing the Baghjan-5 well in 2006, the panel said.
The commission said OIL had not only failed It added that while the company could show
to properly plan, execute and supervise a number that it had applied to Assam Pollution Control
of critical operations but had also failed to secure a Board (PCB) for the necessary approvals in 2006,
number of government approvals before it spud- it could not present the PCB’s authorisation.
ded the well almost a decade and a half ago. Therefore, the panel said, the state developer
The panel also accused OIL’s drilling con- “flagrantly violated” regulatory procedures.
tractor, John Energy, of similarly failing to pro- The commission added that OIL had also
vide adequate supervision of critical well site failed to renew its environmental permit to
operations. drill and test under the nearby Dibru-Saikhowa
The developer experienced a blowout at the National Park (DSNP).
Baghjan-5 well on May 27 after it tried to bring a In related news, OIL said on July 29 that it was
new reservoir on stream. This led to “uncontrol- in the final stages of capping the blowout and
lable” flows of gas and condensate that eventually that all high-pressure well control equipment
caught fire on June 9, killing two OIL firefighters had been placed at their designated positions,
and destroying roughly 30 homes. including a choke manifold, X-mass tree, BOP
“There was deficiency in understanding of control unit and associated high-pressure lines
the gravity of a critical operation like removal and hoses.
of [a blowout preventer] BOP without having The blowout and the slow pace of work on
a confirmed and tested secondary safety bar- capping the well has, however, has led to pro-
rier. There was deficiency in proper planning of testors gathering at the company’s drill sites and
critical operations. There was a clear mismatch workover locations across the state. OIL said that
between planning and its execution at site and owing to unrest at several producing well sites,
deviations from the standard operating proce- it had been unable to produce 17,646 tonnes
dure,” the panel of experts said in a 406-page (129,345 barrels) of crude oil and 41.83mn cubic
report. metres of gas since May 27.™

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Indonesia backs DME projects as LPG alternative

PROJECTS & INDONESIA’S push to reduce its liquid petro- As such, the government intends to dis-
COMPANIES leum gas (LPG) imports continued this past tribute DME produced from the country’s
week with the government’s announcement that 2bn tonnes of low-calorie coal reserves to
it was looking to blend the fuel with supplies of regions that are still waiting for pipeline
locally produced dimethyl ether (DME). connections. The ministry estimates that
The head of the Indonesian Energy Minis- it will take 6mn tonnes of coal to produce
try’s research and development team, Dadan 1.5mn tonnes of DME.
Kusdiana, said on July 22 that the government Kusdiana noted that a proposed coal
had conducted a three-year study on optimal to synthetic gas facility for Riau Province,
ratios to mix coal-based DME with LPG for the capable of producing 1.4mn tonnes per year
domestic cooking market. of DME, was “about enough to meet Suma-
Kusdiana said the study – launched in 2017 – tra’s LPG needs”. The project is a joint ven-
had found that an 80:20 mix of LPG to DME was ture between state-owned Pertamina, coal
the ideal ratio, given that while DME is less pol- miner Bukit Asam and the US’ Air Product
luting than LPG it also has a lower energy con- and Chemicals. The three sides agreed to
tent. DME also wears out conventional stoves form a joint venture in January 2019.
and canisters faster than LPG. Bukit Asam’s president director Arviyan Ari-
While Indonesia is building out its network fin said on June 10 that front end engineering
of gas pipelines, the grid is still limited outside design (FEED) work had begun on the project
of major metropolitan areas. More than 60% of and that the partners aimed to begin commercial
the country’s villages rely on LPG for cooking operation in 2024-2025.
fuel, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data Air Products announced in May this year
from 2018. that it would team up with Bakrie Capital

Week 30 30•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P5