Incident Report

Subject:                 Yemen - 'Disgruntled' individual caused Yemen blast  

Date of Email report:   Sun 15/01/2012

Report Detail:

Privately held Hunt Oil said a blast at one of its wells in Yemen over the weekend came from a small bomb planted by an individual who was “disgruntled with the government”.  Dallas-based Hunt said the individual had previously threatened to attack one of the company’s wells in the volatile nation.  The threats were apparently realised on 7 January when Hunt’s Dhahab 24 well caught fire after “a small explosive device was detonated”.  The well was "unattended" at the time, Jeanne Phillips, senior vice-president for corporate affairs and international relations at Hunt Oil, added in a statement emailed to Upstream.  Phillips said the device was placed on an upper valve of the well’s Christmas tree.

Only the valve itself was damaged in the blast and “the tree retained integrity”, Phillips said.  “The wellbore itself was not compromised. No persons were injured and we are in the process of repairing the well,” Phillips added.  “We are co-operating with authorities to apprehend the responsible individual.”  Phillips also said that the company’s “operations status is unchanged”. Upstream understands, however, that at least some production at the well has been shut-in.   A Hunt spokesperson could not immediately confirm current or previous production figures at Dhahab 24.

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