2017 Moftinu fire - Well No. 1001 Serinus Energy in flames

Press Release, 18 December 2017 

Serinus Energy Inc. (“Serinus”, “SEN” or the “Company”) (TSX:SEN, WSE:SEN), reports that at 1:49am CET on Monday December 18, 2017, during routine operation to prepare the Moftinu 1001 well for future production, an unexpected gas release occurred and subsequently ignited. The company was continuing the process of bringing the well out of suspension in advance of production. At the time of the incident the Blow-out Preventer (“BOP”) was in the process of being attached to the well head. The wellsite has been evacuated and secured and all Company and contractor staff have been reported as safe with no injuries. The Company’s well supervisor and drilling contractor are now working to reestablish control of the well. The Satu Mare County fire department responded immediately and they are at the well site to ensure containment of the fire. Officials from the town of Moftinu, Satu Mare County, and the National Agency of Mineral Resources are also on site. The cause of this incident is not currently known and the Company's primary consideration is to safely and quickly bring the gas well under control. The Company will provide ongoing status updates to the market.

The fire at Moftinu Mare, Satu Mare county, broke out in the morning of December 18, while the employees of the company that owns the well were trying to install a safety valve, meant to prevent gas leaks. After the installation of this valve, the well was supposed to go into production, which did not happen due to the fire. Although there were no human victims, the resources deployed, in the almost three weeks that the probe burned, were impressive. During the 20 days, firefighters from eight county inspectorates worked at the gas well site, totaling almost 300 people who were permanently in the vicinity of the fire.

Press Release, 18 December 2017 

Serinus Provides Update to Moftinu 1001 Well Incident Serinus Energy Inc. (“Serinus”, “SEN” or the “Company”) (TSX:SEN, WSE:SEN) reports that the situation at the Moftinu 1001 wellsite remains stable. The Company has contracted SafetyBoss, an internationally renowned well control company based in Calgary, Canada, to manage the Moftinu 1001 well incident. SafetyBoss is sending a well control team into Romania, who will arrive within the next 36 hours. Equipment is currently being secured to enable well control activities. The Company also remains in contact with all relevant Authorities and the emergency services in Satu Mare County, and continues to closely monitor the situation. The cause of this incident is not currently known and the Company's primary consideration is to safely and quickly bring the gas well under control. The Company will provide ongoing status updates to the market. 

Mike Miller

At the end of December, the Serinus company, which owns the exploitation at Moftinu Mare, called the Canadians from Safety Boss, specialized in such incidents, to help put out the fire at the gas well. The action was coordinated by Mike Miller, the director of the company, but also a true legend in solving this type of fire. On Saturday, 6 January 2018, Miller, helped by the Romanian firefighters, managed to definitively close the fire at Moftinu Mare, thus reaching 500 cases of this kind solved.

Press Release Moftinu-1001, 7 January 2018 

Well Brought Safely Under Control Serinus Energy Inc. (“Serinus”, “SEN” or the “Company”) (TSX:SEN, WSE:SEN) reports that it has been successful in safely bringing the Moftinu 1001 gas well back under control. As previously released, the loss of control of the well occurred at 1:49am EET on Monday 18 December 2017, during routine operations to prepare the Moftinu 1001 well for future production. During that operation an unexpected gas release occurred and subsequently ignited. Safety Boss, the well control experts, have been on site since 20 December 2017 and have worked diligently since that time to clear the site of damaged rig equipment in order to gain the required access to the well-head that allowed for the well control operation to be performed. The Romanian Ministry of Emergency Situations (“IGSU”) was also on site and provided valuable assistance, including the provision of water pumping equipment and fire trucks. The Company will now move forward with an independent investigation of the incident and evaluate the well workover requirements to prepare the well for production. The Company is pleased to have the well safely back under control and would like to express its profound gratitude to the many people and contractors whose tireless work assisted the Company in its efforts. Those involved included Safety Boss, IGSU, ISU Satu Mare, ISU Maramures, ISU Bihor, ISU Bistrita, ISU Cluj, ISU Timis, ISU Salaj, the Mayor and people of Moftinu, the Prefect of the Satu Mare County, the National Agency for Mineral Resources Special thanks to Dr. Raed Arafat – in charge of the Emergency Situation Department, acting as State Secretary within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for his valuable assistance and support. The Company was also active in keeping the local communities informed of the progress of the operation and expresses its gratitude for their patience and understanding. The Company has been in continuous contact with its Insurance Broker and the appointed Insurance adjustor in regards to the incident and to the insurance coverage and claim.

Latitude and longitude of location : 47.66608299302245, 22.631388933316337

The well 1001 Moftinu reached a total depth of 1,463 meters on November 28,2014, after penetrating the entire Miocene and Pliocene sandstone.

Following the decision to permanently abandon the Moftinu-1001 well, Canadian company Serinus Energy initiated planning and bidding for the immediate drilling of a replacement well. The company has identified a new location, well located, approximately 300 meters from the Moftinu-1001 construction site. The company requested an emergency approval to accelerate drilling and completion of the future Moftinu-1007 station.

The Canadians hired a Romanian consulting firm, recognized by the Romanian authorities, to carry out an analysis of the causes of the Moftinu-1001 incident. In addition, the company is in the process of hiring its international company to also conduct a root cause investigation. The results of these investigations will be communicated to the competent authorities in Romania. It is anticipated that these investigations will take place before the new Moftinu-1007 station is drilled.

During massive searches on October 19, 2022, the police discovered a whole network of people bringing in products of poor or dubious quality from China and changing their labels to European ones, and then marketing them as products on the mainland . our.

Such a product, more precisely a valve, was the one that took care of the shower and the fire in Moftin from the gas well.

"From the investigations carried out, it was established that, on 18.12.2017, a fire occurred at a gas well in Moftin commune, Satu Mare county, the cause of the fire was a gas leak at a safety valve. From the available data it appears that the valve that generated the gas leaks was installed at the Moftin 1001 well by C. S.R.L. Câmpina, Prahova county, company specialized in "turnkey" design in the field of oil and gas drilling and extraction. Regarding this valve, from the available data it appears that it was purchased by C. S.R.L. Campina de R. S.R.L. (...) A poor-quality valve in Rombet would have triggered gas leaks at a well in Satu Mare, which led to a fire," say DIICOT prosecutors.

2003 Iancu Jianu fire - Well No. 331 in flames

Around 4 p.m on February 3rd 2003, gas well No. 331 Iancu Jianu began to erupt gas and salt water and caught fire. The flame reach almost 100 meters high and was visible from several kilometers. The well was spud in 1966 at a depth of 2435 meters on Iancu Jianu commercial field, located near the commune of Iancu Jianu, Olt county, and it was closed for two years.
"We tried to stop the uncontrolled gas eruptions, but we didn't succeed. The well ignited due to the friction of the rocks in the deposit. Now we are making efforts to extinguish the flame, but it is very difficult because the road is difficult to access, on a slope, and the machines only go up if a bulldozer goes ahead of them to level the road", said Ion Calotescu, director of SNP Petrom - Craiova.

Fig.1 Gas well No. 331 Iancu Jianu on fire

The decision was to drill a well, close to the one that caught fire, in order to reach the gas deposit. The rescue well, called 331 Bis Iancu Jianu, was drilled, at a distance of 90 meters away from the fire. The idea was to capture the gases and then to flood the layer with salt water and drilling mud. The final depth of the rescue well was 980 meters. The firefighters from the "Matei Basarab" Fire Brigade from Slatina, who were also involved in the well extinguishing operations, explained that, at the time of the loss of the drilling fluid, a phenomenon that occurred at a depth of 957 m,  they continued to pump salt water and mud into the rescue well. This operation was followed by the pumping of 30 tons of special cement into the well. The fire from gas well No. 331 Iancu Jianu was finally liquidated on Wednesday, March 12, around 3:00 p.m.

Fig. 2 & 3. Petroleum engineer Vasile Dragomir, manager at that time of Detubari Floresti, was involved in extinguishing operations.

The work to extinguish the fire lasted 37 days and was made much more difficult by the unfavorable weather, but also by the hard-to-reach area. During all this time, there have been no ecological accidents and no human casualties, the gas eruption being permanently kept under control by the specialists of the SNP Petrom.

Gazeta de Sud, februarie 2003 (Anul 9, nr. 2410-2433), 2003-02-05  nr. 2413

Fig. 4. Latitude and longitude of location: 44.4829503,23.99937913

Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Vasile Dragomir who provided the photos. Vasile is the author of an excellent blog (http://www.vasiledragomir.ro) with much more information on Romanian oil and gas history.

References
‘’Gazeta de Sud’’, 4 February 2003

‘’Gazeta de Sud’’, 5 February 2003
‘’Gazeta de Sud’’, 6 February 2003
‘’Gazeta de Sud’’, 14 March 2003

Figure Captions
Figure 1. Real photo. Gazeta de Sud collection
Figure 2. Real photo. Vasile Dragomir collection
Figure 3. Real photo. Vasile Dragomir collection
Figure 4. The location of  well No. 331 Iancu Jianu

2000 Slavuta fire - Well No. 4794 in flames

 Gazeta de Sud, 1493 / Monday, January 31, 2000

A major fire broke out on Saturday evening at the Stoina oilfield, where firefighting teams from Turceni, Ţicleni, Turburea, Stoina, and from the Craiova oilfield were mobilized with 11 fire trucks. The fire had engulfed the entire well, which was in the production of condensate gas. After initial investigations at the scene, it was determined that the fire started due to the generation of electrostatic sparks. Firefighters determined that an as yet unidentified individual had gone to the well with the intention of stealing gasoline. The thief had apparently intended to pour the fuel into plastic containers. At that moment, an electrostatic spark occurred, followed inevitably by a fire.

Firefighters managed to extinguish the fire with mud.

The fire affected well number 4794 in the Slăvuţa park. Firefighters battled the massive flames for several hours. Approximately ten tons of condensate gas and about 300 cubic meters of well gas were burned. The footbridge on the drilling facility structure, approximately 30 kg of vaseline, and various materials, tools, and the wellhead were apparently irreparably damaged. Employees from the Stoina oilfield came to the rescue with a tractor and a bulldozer. Because the fire couldn't be extinguished with water, the Gorj military firefighters used a mud jet.

The saved assets amount to approximately three billion lei, in addition to the well equipment and workers' barracks. The police, in collaboration with firefighters, are conducting investigations to identify the person responsible for starting the fire.

Rodica ISTRATIE

Well 4794 Slavuta was dug in 1982 at a depth of 4,456 meters.

Longitude and latitude of location : 44.6554492,23.67792387

1997 Lovrin fire - Well No. 2 Bis Lovrin in flames

On the 2nd of April 1997, oil well No. 2 Bis Lovrin, in drilling at that time, blew up when pressure built up causing gas to explode.  A metal explosion cap had melted and the intense heat was restricting a re-capping operation. The well was spud in an oil field near Lovin in Timis county 600 kilometres northwest of Bucharest. 

Two days after oil well No. 2 Lovrin exploded, it was still burning out of control on Friday. In this video it can be seen the oil field with flames shooting into the sky, ambulances and fire engines on standby, fire crews, worker in heat-resistant suit and fire fighters with water cannon.

Oil firefighters cooling the wellhead area

The firefighters wearing radio communication audio headsets

The drilling rig at well No. 2 Bis Lovrin

Longitude and latitude of location: 45.97975267,20.77758948

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.

1982 Turnu fire - Well No. 451 Turnu in flames

On May 10, 1982 a blaze at well No. 451 Turnu, produced a crater of 35 meters and the height of the ignited gas reached 70 meters. The well was drilled at 619 meters deep. The eruptive event began Monday, May 3 and after 7 days of bad and timid technical and political actions the inevitable occurred. In the night shift worked 32 people: engineers, oil workers, foremen and soldiers. The accumulation of gas in the perimeter of the well, along with favorable weather conditions, led to a strong blast with a devastating blow. 26 people (13 civilians and 13 soldiers) died in torments, and some were burned alive. The gas was ignited, according to a survivor, engineer Ioan Ciupuligă at 8 am from a headlamp, located in a stable nearby. 

Fire-fighting operations began under the leadership of Colonel Valer Avram. To extinguish the fire, they brought 29 fire trucks from Arad, Bihor, Timis, Hunedoara, as well as two turbo jets from Pitesti and Ploiesti. In the meantime specialists with equipments from a chemical plant in Arad, permanent measured gas levels in the area. The wellhead flame was monitored all the time. 

The well 451 Bis Turnu was drilled in May-July 1982 to a total depth of 935 m as a saving well after a blowout destroyed the well 451 Turnu in May 1982

Latitude and longitude of location: 46.22560254,21.21545862.

1935 EPS fire - ''Petrolul Romanesc'' wells

In the afternoon of 23rd January 1935, on the Pascov Valley a powerfull fire broke out at oil well No. 27 PR Moreni Sud. The wooden derrick caught fire and one piece o wood in flames was carried by the wind 145 meteres away to N-E and ignited an open pit full with oil. From the open pit the fire spread to well no. 29 PR Moreni Sud and at an oil tank located in the Tank Farm Creditul Minier. The tank, full with 2 000 tons of oil, was hardly extinguished. Neither of the two wells was insured. ''Petrolul Romanesc'' oil wells destroyed by the flames :

Well Name	Spud Date	Depth
27 PR Moreni Sud	1929	515
29 PR Moreni Sud	1934	438

Adevărul, 49, nr. 15654, 24 ianuarie 1935

 View of the Park 2 EPS ( ''Exploatarea Perimetrelor Statului'' ) former Creditul 

Latitude and longitude of location : 44.97309177,25.62082946

1933 Copsa Mica fire - Well No. 005

On July 13, 1933 was the beginning of one of the largest fire at a gas well in the Romanian history. The developing of Copsa Mica gas exploitation led to decision of Sonametan to drill in 1933 new gas wells (wells 4 and 5). Market studies conducted by Sonametan stood at decision to supply Sibiu with gas for consumption. The exploration drilling of well Copsa Mica 005 had the purpose to explore the Copsa Mica gas dome and to determine by mechanical coring and electric logging the sequence of layers, their gas content and possibly water. The drilling of this well started on March 10, 1933 and Rotary drilling system was used. The first column of 508 mm was fixed at 20.7 meters depth. The second column of 360 mm was fixed at 109.8 meters. Cementation was executed in good condition. The drilling continued to the depth of 764.4 m when analyses indicated a pressure increase in Copsa Mica dome. Gas pressure at the depth of 764 meters was about 100 bars. Given the shallow depth at which these pressures are encountered, this kind of gas domes pose a great difficulty for drilling. In order to maintain the layer pressure, during drilling, it was necessary to use a drilling fluid with a specific weight. Mud was brought from  Bazna to prepare the drilling fluid but in the absence of a special mixer that wasn’t done properly . That viscous mud quickly gasify. Given the high pressures encountered as a safety measure and to protect the well in case of eruption the decision was made on the 24th June, at a depth of 741 meters, to ask The Ministry the changing of working program by cementing the column immediately. This would had avoided the formation of a crater next to the wellhead, 17 days later. Degradation of drilling fluid properties led to increase of gas pression in the well. At July 11, the pressure reached 50 bars and the gas came out violent at 750 meters north of the well. The pressure in well dropped to 25 bars. Cementation resisted, or crater would be formed in the well. A huge amount of sand and marls was projected 100 meters into the air. On a circular area with a diameter of about 200 meters, the land was covered with sand and gray marl typical Pontian, white striped calcareous andesitic, tuff, conglomerate and finally vegetal elements from the valley. The next morning, the main crater looks roughly elliptical. Next to the main crater more secondary craters were formed. From the main crater eruption took place with intermittent bursts which made the impression that earth was boiling. On the next day, July 13, 1933, at 15.45, after a spark, ignited gas was burning with a flame height of 100-150 meters. Occasionally violent eruptions took place throwing masiv amounts of marl and sandstone. The water from  the crater, or after rains formed dark clouds of smoke which sometimes enveloped the flame. The aim was to stop the eruption by pumping into the well heavy drilling fluid, but with no results. Pressure in the well decreased and stabilized at 5 bars. The main crater was gradually approaching the well. Similar operations performed in August, September and October 1933, were unsuccessful. The material placed in the well was driven by gas, pulverized and thrown up great distances around the crater. In January 1935, the crater was 205 meters from the borehole no. 5 and on  9 May, 1935, the crater moved 80 meters towards the well. On August 28, 1935, after a rainfall, the crater again moved towards the well no. 5 by 45 m reducing the distance between  these at 75 meters. In 1940 engineer Popovici had the idea of ​​pumping water into the well. The  gas pressure dropped and led to decrease the flame height from 42 meters to 4 meter. In order to extinguish the fire there were  pumped about 2000 wagons of mud through four 16” pipelines. The large amount of mud burst into the crater quenching the flames.

 

Oil well Copsa Mica 005 was spud in 1933 at 764 meters.

Gazeta ilustrata Jul-1933

Gazeta de Transilvania 3-Aug-1933

Longitude and latitude of location: 46.1010991,24.3109354

1931 Urlati fire - Well No. 83 AR Urlati in flames

On the 25th of November 1931 a fire ignited oil well 83 AR Urlati in gas eruption at that time. A spark who came from the electical engines was the source af the blast. The derrick and the electrical installations were destroyed and 6 oilmen were injured. The fire column reached 25 meteres and the gas pressure was estimated to be around 80 bars. Several works were carried out, which included cleaning the well from debris and preparing many bags of wet sand to smother the fire at the appropriate time. A large quantity of dynamite was ordered to be used as needed. After 48 hours of preparations under supervison of engineers Catochvil and Cost they were ready to stop the eruption. Mr. Miron the chef engineer led a special team who cut the tubing string in order to fall into the well and stop the eruption. The operation was a succes.

Adevărul, 44, nr. 14696, 27 noiembrie 1931 

Oil well No. 83 AR Urlati spud in 1932 at 1353m

Adevărul, 44, nr. 14697, 28 noiembrie 1931

Latitude and longitude of location : 45.0115733,26.24145197

1930 Unirea fire - 4 wells destroyed

The disaster happened on 6 March 1930, at Gura Ocnitei, during oil pumping. Because one of the oil pipeline broke, all the area was flooded until it reached the steam boilers station when the fire started. The boilers station burned out. Soon the fire spred to 4 oil wells of ''Unirea'' company and also burned 4 oil tanks. One of them, oil well No. 60 UN Viforata, was at 1 kilometer distance up on a hill. This well couldn't be extinguished because was in eruption. Her daily production was 60 tons, Wells destroyed by fire :

Well Name	Spud Date	Depth

52 UN Viforata           1927        924

55 UN Viforata           1928             925

56 UN Viforata           1928         902

60 UN Viforata            1928         996

Adevărul, 43, nr. 14172, 7 martie 1930

Adevărul, 43, nr. 14173, 8 martie 1930

Boliers station burned.

Adevărul, 43, nr. 14177, 13 martie 1930

Once again the Andreescu brothers were called and they manage to extiguished the well after 8 days of preparation. First they link the well to the pipelines to capture the well production and after pumping drilling mud into the well casing the fire stopped and the gas & oil production was capture. For the brother was the 4 well extinhuished with their device and methods. 

One of the Andreescu brothers top of the well

Adevărul, 43, nr. 14180, 16 martie 1930

The Andreescu brothers trying to extinguished oil well 60 UN Viforata

The Andreescu brothers hoisting a Romanian and an English flag on the oil well after they extinguished it

Latitude and longitude of location : 44.96727517,25.58758802