Fire Erupts at Illegal Oil Well in Indonesia

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A fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. at a backyard well in a village in Aceh Province, on the northern tip of Sumatra Island on Wednesday, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. The erupted fire killed at least 18 people and injuring about 40 others, some of whom were badly burned. 
Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the state-owned oil company Pertamina sent teams to Aceh, which has industrial oil and gas operations, to investigate the incident. Since this is a case of illegal drilling.

Agung Pribadi, a ministry spokesman, said the well was being operated by local residents, adding that he was not sure if there were other illegal wells in the area.
Illegal well operations are common in Indonesian regions where oil is present, including on the islands of Sumatra and Java. In some cases, the wells were abandoned by the Dutch colonial administration that once ruled Indonesia, and are now run by groups of villagers working around the clock.
Location: Aceh, Indonesia

Comments

  1. Matt KlahrApril 26, 2018 at 10:38 AM

    Wow, I did not think that illegal oil wells could be a thing. You would think that legitimate companies could only operate a oil well because of what needs to happen for it to operate. Skilled workers would be needed to operate the wells, so they must have figured out how to get them up and running. Also, how could they sell the oil once they extract it? How could the black market oil industry be profitable when much larger companies can produce much more oil for much less? Very interesting topic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Derric GrayApril 30, 2018 at 7:25 AM

    It is terrible that so many people were lost in this accident. I had no idea that there are illegal well operations going on. I figured that since it is so dangerous, people would leave it to the professionals. I hope now the Indonesian government will stop all of these illegal operations so nobody else gets hurt. Even if it is their job, it is not worth the risk.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Catie PurcellApril 30, 2018 at 12:47 PM

    This is crazy. I am glad you decided to write a post about it because I would not have even known that this happened and why.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Her Whole StoryMay 1, 2018 at 6:27 PM

    I found this post to be very interesting since I did not know anything about this event. It's sad the amount of people that were hurt/killed from this illegal act! Hopefully this won't ever happen again because of the consequences.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Her Whole StoryMay 1, 2018 at 6:28 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Matt FelixMay 10, 2018 at 7:43 AM

    This article sheds light on an issue that I had no idea even existed. Its crazy to think that their are illegal oil drilling operations in Indonesia. I think that the Indonesia government needs to take actions to regulate and control of illegal oil drilling processes to prevent future disasters like this fire.

    ReplyDelete

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