E. Kalimantan Attaka oil field resumes production after fire

JAKARTA (JP): Oil company Unocal Indonesia has restarted production at the Attaka offshore oil field near Balikpapan, East Kalimantan after a fire razed one of its platforms.

Company onshore production manager Eddy Suryo told The Jakarta Post from Balikpapan yesterday the oil field resumed production Monday, one day after its Echo platform was burned and submerged following a gas leak from the oil well.

"We have restarted production at normal capacity. Now we only have to put out the fire at remnants of the burned platform and contain the area to prevent an oil spill," said Eddy.

According to state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina's data, Unocal's Attaka oil field has 17 platforms with total production of 40,000 bpd, including 6,000 bpd from the burned Echo platform.

Unocal, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Unocal Corp., operates seven oil fields across the country with total production of 90,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The Echo platform was set ablaze Sunday afternoon and subsequently sunk into the sea. Unocal soon closed the oil field and evacuated all workers.

"There was no explosion. The rig was just set ablaze," said Eddy.

No casualties were reported but the company's general manager Muchlis Sadzali earlier estimated property loss at about Rp 18 billion (US$6.6 million).

Eddy said two experts from the United States consultancy firm Wild Well Control were scheduled to arrive at the location today to establish a relief well to extinguish the fire at the remnants of the Echo platform.

"The most awful effect of such an event would be an oil spill. But so far we have been able to prevent it with our antipollution device," he said. (jsk)