LATE NEWS - Kuwait Oil Field Blows Up. Will it have an effect on MIR, CPN, HAL, and the rest of the sector
Kuwaiti field explodes into inferno
oilandgasinternational.com
(1/31/2002 - OGI 24/7) The giant Al-Rawdhatain Field in northern Kuwait exploded late this evening into an inferno, injuring scores of workers and causing extensive damage. The full effect of the blast is yet to be known, since the fire continues to burn out of control.
According to government sources, Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is prepared to declare a national emergency centered on the oilfield some 115 km north of Al-Ahmadi. Members of his cabinet and executives from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation led by Nader Sultan are said to be enroute to the scene to ascertain the magnitude of the situation.
Although no cause for the explosion has been released to the press, a spokesman for the ministry of information said it was set off by a leak in a gas compressor on the field, which is operated by the Kuwait Oil Company. It is believed that the leak was ignited causing the first explosion in a compressor station, which then ruptured a large pipeline that ordinarily carries some 350,000 b/d of oil from the field to Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation's storage complex at Al-Ahmadi.
At the time of this writing, the fire is raging out of control on Al-Rawdhatain Field, but firefighters are on the scene attempting to suppress it, so far without success. The gas booster station BS0130 has been destroyed and the GC-15 gathering center, the largest in Kuwait, may have been destroyed as well. The GC-15 gathers crude oil from Al-Rawdhatain as well as Abdali and Rutga Fields, with together produce approximately half of the crude oil output of northern Kuwait, some 603,000 b/d, which is at this time fueling the inferno.
Production has been halted at all three fields, according to a Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation spokesman. |
