Gazeta de Sud, Nr. 626, Marti 1 Aprilie 1997.
The fire at the Lovrin drilling rig was extinguished using equipment used in Kuwait.
A strong fire broke out
on Sunday night at a drilling rig belonging to SC FORADEX SA, near the Lovrin
commune (Timiș County).
The fire occurred at
midnight during the extraction of the drill string from a depth of 3,500
meters. An explosion occurred in the lower part, and the rig caught fire. None
of the night shift workers were affected. 12 firefighting vehicles from the
Timișoara military fire brigade arrived at the scene and managed to stop the
spread of the fire, according to Mihai Smărăndescu, the general manager of SC
FORADEX SA.
Due to the high
temperatures, the rig's structure collapsed. Drillers worked all day to clear
the area of metal debris. After clearing the wellhead, simultaneous with
extinguishing the flames, the installation of oil capture equipment had to be
prepared. For this, turbojet extinguishing equipment was brought to Lovrin to
eliminate the oxygen that sustains combustion, said Colonel Ioan Cernat,
commander of the Timișoara Military Fire Brigade.
The rig that caught
fire belongs to SC FORADEX SA and is an exploration rig for hydrocarbon search.
It was designed for a depth of 3,750 meters. The fire on Sunday night broke out
when the 3,500-meter depth was achived. The layer reacted rapidly and
violently, causing an explosion within seconds. Until that moment, there were
no signs that oil would erupt. The rig is located 1.5 kilometers from Lovrin
commune. The fire was extinguished under the coordination of Nicolae
Staiculescu, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Industries and Commerce. The
operation was complex and dangerous, as it was necessary to avoid the formation
of gas pockets that could explode, according to experts.
The equipment used by
Romanians to extinguish fires at the rigs in Kuwait, after the end of the Gulf
War, belongs to PETROM and was also used at the drilling rig near Lovrin,
according to the management of SC FORADEX SA.
Gazeta de Sud, Nr. 635,
Vineri 11 Aprilie 1997
The fire at the Lovrin
rig has been extinguished.
The rig that caught
fire near Lovrin commune, Timiș County, on the night of March 30/31, was
extinguished and capped yesterday morning.
The operation,
particularly spectacular, was not without risks because on Wednesday evening,
the oil workers failed to install the blowout preventer due to darkness and the
pressure with which the gas was gushing from the ground.
In the afternoon on
Wednesday, a powerful crane was brought from Oradea to Lovrin, which was
supposed to install the new 8-ton blowout preventer. It had to replace the
temporary gas vent installed to direct the eruption towards the sky.
The most spectacular
part of the operation was extinguishing the flame. For this, a turbojet
installation was used, consisting of a MIG-21 engine mounted on a truck
chassis. It propelled a curtain of water and smoke onto the flame, with a
pressure of 700 atmospheres, instantly extinguishing it.
Simultaneously, several
teams of firefighters projected pressurized water jets to prevent the rig from
reigniting. After removing the gas vent, the operation to install the blowout
preventer failed due to the very high pressure of the gas gushing from the
ground and the darkness that hindered the intervention.
The capping operation
was postponed until Thursday morning, and the oil workers attempted to reignite
the rig to avoid an accidental explosion. The installation of the preventer
took 35 minutes and was completed without any issues.
Until the pipes that
will transport the gas are installed at the rig, the gas has been reignited.
The burning is controlled, and the rig can be closed at any time.
In the coming period,
several rigs will be drilled in the area to exploit the reservoir. Experts
believe it is very rich and will solve the methane gas problem in Banat.
Because until now, methane gas reached Timișoara from great distances through pipelines, Banat residents faced problems every winter due to low pressure.