March 28, 2019
A major accident occurred at a Caspian oil field.
From mid-March, an emergency event, associated with a technological accident during drilling operations has developed at the Kalamkas oil field, located in the Tupkaragansky district of the Mangystau oblast of the Republic of Kazakhstan, four kilometres from the Caspian Sea.
As MIA Kazinform reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, this emergency with release of gas and water mixture occurred at the “Kalamkas” gas-oil filed on March 13, 2019 at 17.30, while the LLP "Engineering Drilling Company "SiBu" (Aktau) was drilling the well N 8237 with a design depth of 903 m.
After sealing the wellhead, some water and gas occurrence appeared around the drill site as springs, when the drill mud rises to the surface, pumped into the well and gas comes out from the reservoir.
The following video demonstrates the manner the accident occurred in reality.
The contractor company "SiBu Engineering Drilling Company" LLP together with the subsoil user undertook the emergency response activities. Elimination of water and gas occurrences in the form of springs was carried out by way of pumping special solutions.
On the 24th of March, the Kazakhstani side reported about complete elimination of consequences of the accident. On that day, the representatives of the Mangistau Region Akimat (Administration), Nature Protection Prosecutor's Office and the State Inspectorate in the oil and gas Industry visited Kalamkas site to assess the current situation. Inspection of the accident site showed that there was no oil spillage to the land surface, and only 5 of initial 13 spring spots were active (of which the intensity of gas-water occurrence was: 1 - strong, 3 - medium and 1 - weak). The area of associated water spill around the emergency well was about 1 km long and 0.5 km wide, as confirmed by the photos/videos taken.
It was also noted that the distance to the protection dam of the Caspian Sea from the emergency well is 4.5 km, i.e. the possibility of direct spill of associated water into the sea was clearly out of the question.
It was planned to completely eliminate he consequences of the accident by the end of Sunday, but on the 25th of March, the situation in the accident area was seriously complicated. A 10 high spring inflammation occurred covering some 900 square meters.
Initially, non-governmental fire-fighting services consisting of 14 workers and 4 units of equipment were involved in fighting the fire. But fast extinguishing the fire proved to be impossible.
It is reported that during the extinguishing operations, several attempts were made to localize the inflammation using portable fire monitors. However, due to lack of access roads to the source of ignition, it was not suppressed. In order to make access roads, special emergency services built a protective dam and access roads using landfill.
At 13:30 on the 26th of March, it was reported that the fire spread to the well № 8237, where the accident had originally occurred. Additional fire-fighting forces and responsible employees, including First Vice Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Makhambet Dosmukhambetov, were mobilised to the accident site. The akim (governor) of the oblast, as well as the management of KazMunayGas JSC are on site.
The President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev took the situation under his personal control. He instructed the Government to take all necessary measures to localize the source of inflammation and eliminate the accident at the Kalamkas oil and gas field.
Another attempt to suppress the fire at the oil and gas field was made in the evening of the 26th of March.
In the morning of March 28, the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan reported that in the previous night the fire was completely extinguished.
The Kalamkas oil-gas field is located at the coast of the Caspian Sea, in the Buzachi Peninsula, belongs to the North-Buzashinsk oil and gas bearing region. It was discovered in 1976, and its development commenced in 1979. The Kalamkas field is currently developed by the Mangystau Investments B.V. - a JV between KazMunaiGas and CNPC.
Translated into English by Muhiddin Ganiev
Sources:
https://neftegaz.ru/news/view/181035-Pozhar-na-mestorozhdenii-Kalamkas-v-Kazahstane-potushen