Residents of Diamond Housing Scheme awoke Wednesday morning to another eruption of natural gas at the Fourth Street, Section A, Block X, Diamond location which first exploded last June.
The eruption caused the spilling of mud and water spraying several feet in the air above the houses of residents. Since the last eruption, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission had set up a system for the gas to continue to flow through a pipe. However, mud and water subsequently got mixed in with the gas earlier Wednesday morning, causing the eruption.
For a few minutes, the spilling had ceased after the pipe experienced a blockage, but the eruption continued from other areas around the yard, as well as the yard next door where a three-storey building is currently under construction.
GGMC Senior Petroleum Technologist, Mitchell Prince, was at the site and explained that the eruption began since the wee hours of Wednesday morning. “This morning about 01.30hrs, I was called and when I came I noticed it was venting gas, water and solids through the pipe. I went back to the office to make arrangements to save the houses from getting soiled in the interim…however, I received a call saying that it appears as though the pipe is blocked and because of that, the gas has found its way through [other areas],” Prince explained.
It was in mid-June of this year that Soownauth Gorakh, the home-owner, was illegally drilling a well at the residence and caused the natural gas explosion. The persons who were digging, unaware of the depth to dig, drilled to some 120 feet and hit the pocket of natural gas, which is said to be mostly methane gas. Gorakh and his family have since vacated the premises, which has become uninhabitable after the house sustained considerable damage after the first explosion, with the entire concrete back step having broken down, while the walls contain several sizeable cracks and holes.
Prince explained the drilling compromised the sub-surface in the yard, and possibly even in the yard of other surrounding residences. According to Prince, prior to drilling there was a sub-surface that comprised a layer of soil, a layer of pegasse, and a layer of clay that acted as a cap and prevented the gas from escaping; under the clay was sand, and the gas is normally in the sand along with water and mud.
It was the damage to the clay cap that is allowing the gas to now escape through the soil at any point that is weak enough for it to come out. “The sub-surface is considerably damaged, because of the blow out from the drilling that they had in the first case,” Prince related.
“Because the sub-surface has been comprised [sic], it might even go into other yards. That clay cap, they punctured it, [and] so long as the clay has been damaged, the gas is going to get into the pegasse, and when it gets into the pegasse it might not bubble under this building, because the concrete is fine, but it would find somewhere else that is weak. If you walk around the yard you will see bubbles all around the yard because the cap is gone.”
Notwithstanding the possibility that gas could begin emitting in other yards where the surface is weak, Prince maintained that he does not think the reservoir or emitting gas poses a danger to the surrounding residents.
However, several residents registered their fear of the situation. “The gas was just going up in the air really high, it was terrible. We’re scared, this could happen in any one of our yards right now, something could happen to us, we don’t know what to do anymore. And then they’re telling us it’s ok, it’s ok, but it’s not ok,” expressed one resident who lives a few houses away from the eruption.
“I didn’t sleep all night, the neighbourhood, nobody slept. We don’t know what they’re going to do.”
A similar situation had occurred at a residence in the neighbouring community of Grove back in 2009. In that case, a system with a tank was set up to capture the gas and have it directed into the home of the residence for domestic use. Prince was questioned about having a similar set-up in Diamond and having the gas piped to a resident or surrounding residents. “I’m not in a position to answer that,” he replied.
Prince noted that to investigate the full volume of gas contained beneath the community would be a costly exercise, but did concede that this pocket of gas may have some connection to the one in Grove. “We have to have an idea of the reservoir size and we do not have that. We would have to do seismic in the area, etcetera, but we have an idea that it might’ve been the same vein that comes from Grove, all the way across here,” He said.
