Leaking oil well catches fire in Oman

An oil well in central Oman, which has been leaking for the past four days, caught fire yesterday, according to Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).

"PDO can confirm that Zauliyah-16 caught fire at 1.30pm yesterday. No one was injured. The ignition source is not known at this time," said a PDO statement. "The well,120 km north west of Haima in central Oman, had been experiencing uncontrolled flow of hydrocarbons since Saturday."

The statement said specialists from Houston-based Will Well Control were mobilised and have been on the site since Monday.

"No activity was ongoing at the wellhead at the time of the fire. Contingency plans that had been in place for such an eventuality are now being executed, including drafting in specialist manpower and equipment."

PDO, Oman's leading drilling and oil producing company, which first exported oil in 1967, is owned 60 per cent by the government, 34 per cent by Royal Dutch Shell, 4 per cent by Total Fina Elf and 2 per cent by Partex.

Earlier, PDO said on Monday that efforts are continuing to bring the Zauliyah-16 under control the leakage.

PDO chairman Salim bin Mohammed Shaban Al Ojaily and Managing Director Steve Ollerearnshaw visited the site on Sunday along with officials from the Ministry of Regional Muni-cipalities, Environment and Water Resources.

The work, PDO pointed out, had so far been concentrated on containing the oil leak.

The release of hydrocarbons, at the rate of around 2000 barrels a day, occurred on Saturday morning when MB Petroleum was carrying out well-pulling hoist operations on behalf of PDO on a new well, Zauliyah-16, which was not hooked up to PDO's production network, having only been recently drilled.

At the time of the incident, the well was not contributing to PDO's daily production of oil and gas. PDO's oil and gas production has, therefore, not been affected. An official at the Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Envi-ronment and Water Resources, said on Sunday the incident will have no impact on the environment.

The uncontrolled release was caused by the heavy blockage of hydrocarbons inside the well, explained the official, adding that oil is normally injected with gas to facilitate voluntary release but what happened at the Zauliyah well was exceptional. Oman, which is not a member of Opec, produces around 900,000 barrels a day.