Nigeria - Gas Leakage Control, Total Begins Snubbing Operation

French oil major, Total Exploration and Production Nigeria (TEPNG) Limited has started snubbing intervention to stop the gas flow and also regain control of gas well damaged in the Ibewa gas field in Ogba/Ndoni/Egbema Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State.

A snubbing operation, according to a statement by the company, consists of introducing small pipes into the well to pump heavy fluid to stop the flow.
“The snubbing intervention started on May, 9 and if successful could stop the gas flow in the next few days,” the company said.

The company further disclosed that its teams had reported significant progress in the efforts to ensure that the incident was brought under control and to stop the subsurface gas flow from the affected well.

“TEPNG continues to monitor the safety perimeter around the resurgences area: The surveillance of water and gas resurgence points is performed by teams on ground and by daily helicopter flights. The team continues to perform analysis of air and water quality several times a week,” the statement added.

The company noted that hydrocarbons or toxic compounds had been detected; adding that as a precaution, two private water wells near the resurgences area had been secured.

Total said it would continue to engage and provide updates to the representatives of the neighboring communities, State and Local Government, regulators other stakeholders.

Nigeria’s export of Liquefied and Natural Gas (LNG) and Bonny Light crude oil recently suffered a setback as Total shuts down the Obite gas plant in Ogba/Ndoni/Egbema Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State, over gas leakage.

Located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 58, the Obite gas plant processes non-associated gas from High Pressure (HP) gas wells and associated gas from Obagi Gas Compression and exports it to the Nigeria LNG Plant in Bonny Island.

The condensate extracted from the gas is also used to blend crude oil produced from the company’s Obagi facilities to make it commercially viable before it is marketed as Bonny Light crude and exported through Shell’s Bonny Export Terminal.

Total had said it was “alerted about some water and gas resurgence points, observed in an uninhabited area close to its onshore Obite gas production facilities, on the OML 58 license”.

The company noted that the development was the likely consequence of a technical incident that occurred during drilling operations on the same site on March 20, 2012.

The company stated there were no injuries, but production from the Obite gas plant had been stopped and wells shut down, assuring that domestic water analysis and air quality controls were being processed on a daily basis and had not revealed any presence of hydrocarbons or toxic elements.

News Source: Thisday