Chevron rig fire
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku
Oil giant Chevron has announced plans to drill two relief wells at the site of its wrecked and still-burning KS Endeavour jack-up off the coast of Nigeria.
Upstream Newspapers reported on Friday that the two rigs, one from Noble and one from Transocean, are on loan from ExxonMobil and Eni Corporation respectively, and are expected to begin drilling within seven to 10 days.
A Chevron spokesman reportedly did not immediately respond to a query from Upstream on which rigs would be used and how long the relief wells were expected to take.
“The fire is still burning at the well, but at a diminished rate,” spokesman, Scott Walker, said in a statement. “Based on the condition of the well, the safest way to control the well is to drill a relief well to kill the well at reservoir depth”, the report added.
After criticism of the company’s handling of the spill, the company said it aimed to reach out and reiterated that no oil was reported to have washed up on the shore.
“CNL has hired local community residents as beach walkers to monitor the shoreline,” Chevron said. “We are currently moving food and supplies to the communities in the area to recognise the help and support that they have given us.”
A fire broke out on a drilling rig in Chevron's Funiwa oil facility in South-eastern Nigeria on last week. “Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) ... confirms a fire incident on the K. S. Endeavour jack-up rig. The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday,” Reuters quoted Chevron spokesman Scott Walker to have said in an emailed statement.
“We are still investigating the incident and are working to fully understand what happened,” he added, but did not give any casualty figures. Local people living near Funiwa reported an explosion. “I heard a really loud bang and there was a fire,” local village chief Young Fabby, 55, said by telephone.
A rig contracted by the company to drill a relief well to control the raging fire will arrive at the location in “three or four days” and afterward it will take about “30 days” to complete the drilling, said the company.