December 18 (SeeNews) - Oil and gas exploration company Serinus Energy said on Monday that it is working to regain control of the Moftinu well in Satu Mare county, in northern Romania, following an unexpected gas release which led to a strong fire.
The incident happened during routine operations to prepare the Moftinu 1001 well for future production, Serinus said in a press release.
"At the time of the incident the Blow-out Preventer was in the process of being attached to the well head. The well site 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 re-establish control of the well," the company added.
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.
The Moftinu gas field, discovered by Serinus in 2014, is the catalyst for future, self-funded, growth in the Satu Mare concession, with first production scheduled for 2018. Satu Mare is a 729,000 acre exploration block which is 60% owned and operated by Winstar Satu Mare SRL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Serinus.
In May, Serinus signed an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract with Romania's Confind for the construction of a gas processing facility and associated flowlines and pipelines for the Moftinu Gas Development Project.
Serinus is an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Tunisia and Romania.The common shares of the company are traded on the Warsaw and Toronto stock exchanges.
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