Bahrain days from extinguishing oil well blaze

Dubai: An oil well fire that started in Bahrain on Saturday could take days to extinguish as the country waits for specialist fire-fighting equipment to arrive, a spokesman at Bahrain's state oil company Bapco said on Tuesday.

Output from Bahrain's onshore 35,000 barrel per day Awali field was unaffected by the fire, which broke out during routine maintenance, said Bapco's acting manager of public relations Mohammed Shehab.

Bahrain has called in a US specialist fire fighting service to extinguish the fire, Shehab said.

A truck hit a wellhead at the oilfield on Friday, causing a gas leak. The gas ignited around midday on Saturday, Shehab said. The high pressure of the gas leak made the fire difficult to extinguish,. The gas was being used for reinjection at the field to boost oil output.

There were no injuries and other wells at Awali continued pumping, he added.