PASARLA PUDI BLOWOUT:

CASE STUDIES
BY
DR. A.K.PATHAK
DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM
ENGINEERING
INDIAN SCHOOL OF MINES
DHANBAD - 826004
E-mail: akhilendra_pathak@yahoo.co.i
 CASE HISTORIES

OF
FAMOUS DSASTERS IN OIL &
GAS FIELDS
 CASE-1

Mandapeta, at Devarapalli, Blow

out, May 1997
 Mandapeta, at Devarapalli,
Blow out, May 1997
• When the blowout took place the rig was
operating at a depth of over 2,700 metres
• How to kill the flame and cap the well ?
• The response time was only 2-3 minutes.
• The kick was strong and the BOP could not
prevent the blowout.
• This was because the rig struck the gas pocket
too early.
• The whole episode was continued for the 30
days to get finally controlled.
 CASE - 2

Thandavapalli Blowout & Fire

Accident 2005
CASE 2: Thandavapalli Blowout &
Fire Accident 2005
• at Thandavapalli village in the vicinity of
Amalapuram in East Godavari district.
• This blowout occurred exactly after a decade
of the Pasarlapudi one in the same
picturesque Konaseema region.
• The accident occurred in E-1420 Rig When
20 employees were on the job of locking the
exploratory well, pressure suddenly increased
and gas gushed out and the 20-year old rig
caught fire.
CASE 2: Thandavapalli Blowout &
Fire Accident 1997 (contd)
• The flames touched 100 to 150 feet
height at the time of blowout
• The Crisis Management Team (CMT)
with the assistance of a four-member
expert team from the partner, Boots and
Coots from Houston, USA controlled in
10 days.
 CASE – 3

Oil well fire at Dikom (Assam)

India: Sept. 2005
Oil well fire at Dikom (Assam)
India: Sept. 2005
Oil well fire at Dikom (Assam)
India: Sept. 2005
• The fire broke out, fuelled by the spewing of
natural gas from an oil spill from the well.
• The fire was generating temperatures of
about 2,000 degrees Celsius, making it
impossible for workers to cap the spill.
• Hundreds of firefighters battled to control a
raging oil well fire in north-eastern India that
was sending flames shooting into the sky and
had forced the evacuation of thousands of
people
 CASE - 4

Typhoon TLP, Sept 2005

CASE 4: Typhoon TLP, Sept
2005
• Hurricane Rita ripped through the Gulf of
Mexico as a Category 5 storm on Sept. 22,
2005, sinking offshore rigs and severing
mooring lines.
• After the storm, Chevron’s Typhoon tension
leg platform (TLP), which should have been
located in 2,000 ft of water in Green Canyon
Block 236, was severed from its mooring and
capsized during the storm
CASE 4: Typhoon TLP, Sept
2005 (Contd)
• It was found floating upside-down in
Eugene Island Block 273, some 80
miles from its original location
• Nearly 9 months later, Chevron donated
its $250 million Typhoon platform to an
MMS artificial reefing program
 CASE-5

Adriatic IV Offshore Egypt

August 2004
 CASE 5: Adriatic IV
Offshore Egypt August 2004
• Global Santa Fe’s Adriatic IV jack up sank in
the Mediterranean Sea, 25 miles offshore
Egypt in August 2004
• A fire caused by a blowout forced all 79
persons onboard to evacuate.
• The fire was brought under control but
erupted into a ball of flames jumping more
than 20 m in the air, which ignited the gas
production platform.
 CASE - 6

Petrobras P-36, Roncador Fiedl

Campos Basin, March 2001
 CASE 7: Collapse of Petronius Tower
Platform in Dec 1998

• Two deck modules fabricated for

Texaco’s Petronius project fell into the
Gulf of Mexico during installation as it
was being lifted into place by J. Ray
McDermott's DB50 barge on Dec. 3,
1998.
 CASE - 8

Blowing of Sea crest Drill ship,

Nov 1989
 CASE 8: Blowing of Sea crest Drill
ship, Nov 1989

• Typhoon Gay blew through the South

China Sea on November 3, 1989,
capsizing the Sea crest Drill ship with
over 90 crews on board.
• Only two survived.
• Typhoon Gay packed over 100 knot
winds and produced 40 ft waves.
 CASE - 9

Piper Alpha, July 1988

 CASE 9: Piper Alpha, July 1988

• The Piper Alpha platform, 120 miles off

Scotland in the North Sea, was the largest and
oldest oil platform off the UK, handling about
10% of the UK North Sea’s total production.
• On July 6, 1988, a compressor tripped and a
second one was turned on. However, the
second compressor leaked gas, which ignited
and exploded, setting off a number of
equipment failures, fires, and subsequent
explosions.
 CASE 9: Piper Alpha, July 1988

• The 62 men who survived jumped 150 ft from

the platform to the ocean surface covered in
burning oil and escaped death by diving
under water between breaths of smoke filled
air.
• The 167 men who died were quickly
consumed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
The whole rig melted into the sea in a matter
of hours
 CASE-10

BHN Fire Accident, July 2005

 CASE 10: BHN Fire Accident, July
2005

• BHN accident took place on July 27,

2005, causing a major fire which totally
destroyed the platform.
• Multipurpose Support Vessel (MSV)
‘Samudra Surkasha’, which sustained
major damages, sank on August 2,
2005
BHN Platform &
Samudra Suraksha
 CASE 10: BHN Fire Accident, July
2005

• The heat and smoke of BHN fire partially

affected other installations like BHF platform,
interconnecting bridges of MNW and BHF
platform, sub-sea pipelines.
• The fire broke out when the multi-purpose
support vessel, Samudra Suraksha belonging
to the Shipping Corporation of India ruptured
riser (pipeline) carrying oil from the wells to
the BHN facility.
 CASE 10: BHN Fire Accident, July
2005

• In the resulting blaze, Samudra Suraksha also

caught fire. Samudra Suraksha, which was towed
away by another multi-purpose support vessel,
Samudra Prabha, sank on August 1, about 12
nautical miles from the Mumbai coastline.
• Eleven persons were killed in the accident and 11
others are reported missing. Of the 383 personnel
onboard the BHN complex, the Samudra
Suraksha and a nearby offshore rig Noble Charlie
Yester, 361 were rescued.
 CASE 10: BHN Fire Accident, July
2005

• The rescue, carried out in bad weather,

was a coordinated effort by the ONGC
personnel using Pawan Hans
helicopters, offshore supply vessels and
vessels of the Navy and the Coast
Guard. The accident has caused a
production loss of about 1.20 lakh
barrels of oil and about 4.4 million cubic
metres of gas a day.
 CASE - 11

CASE 11: PASARLAPURI

BLOWOUT 1994
Pasarlapudi Well # 19
 Brief Introduction
• Pasarlapuri well #19 was a
development well being drilled in East
Godavari district (Fig. 5a). The field was
having 160 wells and 70 sq km lease
area
• The well was spudded in Sept. 1994.
During drilling the drill string was stuck
at the depth of 2727 meter
 Brief Introduction
• The attempts were made to get the pipe free
from stuck point. 2669 m pipe was recovered
during 26 to 29 the Dec. 1994 leaving 69
meter fish in the bore hole.
• The fish was worked out by wash over pipe
and then by tapered tap. The fish was
engaged and 31 m pipe was again recovered
on 6.1.1995.
 THE ACCIDENT
• On 8.1.1995 at about 6.30 PM the gas
entered the bore hole with a very high
pitch sound. Within a few seconds
metallic pipe of 27 m length was thrown
out of the well and due to friction with
metallic rig, which caused spark & the
whole well caught fire.
 Challenges after the accident:

• Arrangement of water @ 25000 GPM for fire

fighting job, monitoring the fire flame that was
more than 100 m height, to Keep
surroundings of coconut trees and paddy
fields cool.
• Removing the well debris, approaching of
BOP stack, observing the casing flanges
condition, relief for the affected people related
to their shelter, food and compensation.
 Control Options
• 1. Capping the well on available BOP
flange or on new flange.
• 2. Diverting the flow of the gas in
currently available flow line.
• 3. Extinguishing the well fire by natural
draw down.
 Troubles, Myths and Hazards:

• 1. Consoling and compensations for the

affected people.
• 2.   Spreading the fire in surroundings.
• 3.  High pitch sound pollution problems due to
gas flow.
• 4. Effect of burnt gases in atmosphere as well
on local life.
• Possibilities of acid rains were forecasted in local
press and media
 Control of the Accident
• Fire fighting by water umbrella around the
well and cooling the surroundings using
water monitors.
• Feb 14 to March 4: removal of rig
debris.
• Cut off the hydril to redirect the fire
vertically.
•     
 Control of the Accident
• The sand cutter severed the flange bolts
to remove BOP stack & drilling spool.
• A shot of 700 lb of Dynamite exploded
over the well head successfully and the
fire was extinguished.
• The crew then excavated around the well
head the well was capped.
 Losses & compensations
• 1.      Loss of gas reserve burnt was about 100
million cubic meter.
• 2.      Total loss of rig and rig equipment.
• 3.      About 4500 trees of coconut were burnt
costing about Rs. 4 Crores.
• 4.      About 500 houses were affected which
were re-built.
• 5.      About 470 Hectare farmers’ fields were
affected. Most of them were of Paddy and
Coconut valued of Rs 2 Crores.
 Losses & Compensations
• 6. About 90 days of total loss of useful
manpower.
• 7. Weekly distribution of 585 quintals of rice
among 2920 persons.
• 8. Expanses related to the hospitality and
service charges of expert teams of Neal
Adams and Red Adairs Company,
consultants for fire extinguishing services, for
about 30 days each.
Challenges on the site
Clearing the Debris
CONCLUSIONS & REMARKS
• Disasters always give lessons to follow
the set standards and to be attentive for
the alarming indications. The accidents
use to happen due to either by faulty
equipment or by people’s fault. Lack of
knowledge, practice, experience and
overconfidence of the well operators are
main root causes behind most of the
accidents and disasters.
CONCLUSIONS & REMARKS
• Safety drills and mock rehearsals may
minimize the scope of the problems. As
per standard practice, it should be
mandatory for all the crews working on
the site to get trained for closing the
BOP and shutting down the well
operations under the case of
emergency.
THANK

YOU