Jakarta, NU Online
The National Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Team (BPLS) has announced plans to try a new -- and expensive -- method to stop the mud that has been gushing from a gas exploration well in East Java for the past year.
The BPLS hopes that by using the inverted pressure produced by the mud that is already above ground it will be able to plug the well.<>
It will start by constructing "double cover" dams that would contain the mud until it reaches a sufficient volume to serve as a counterweight to the mud coming from the well.
Chairman of the BPLS supervisory board and Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said the method would probably significantly reduce the volume of the mud flowing out of the gas well in Porong, Sidoarjo.
"We expect that at certain point in time the height of the outflowing mud will level with that of the amassing mud and that's when the volume will be reduced significantly," Djoko told reporters after presenting the plan to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday.
Also present in the meeting were members of the BPLS supervisory board, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah, East Java Governor Imam Utomo and Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.
As reported by The Jakarta Post, the government is expected to hire Japanese engineering firm Katahira Engineering to carry out the project, which will cost the government an estimated Rp 600 billion (US$66 million).
The Japanese firm says it successfully carried out a similar project in the Philippines.
Djoko said that a feasibility study for project would kick off next week.
Djoko also quoted Yudhoyono as saying that geological experts needed to be consulted before the project went ahead.
Under the government regulation forming the BPLS, Lapindo is responsible for paying for efforts to stem the mudflow while the government will pay for all expenses relating to infrastructure.
A similar proposal was tabled by an engineer from the Surabaya-based November 10 Institute of Technology, Jaja Laksana.
The proposal, applying the Bernoulli theory, was presented to the now-defunct National Team for the Lapindo Mudflow, but was met with skepticism.
The national team attempted to plug the exploratory gas well by dropping high-density chained balls into the well in an attempt to curb the pressure from below.
The effort, which cost up to Rp 4 billion, yielded little result aside from a brief respite in March that could not be attributed to the dropping of the chained balls.
A professor from Kyoto University in Japan, James Mori, who oversees the university's disaster prevention research institute, said during a seminar on the issue that there was no technology available to properly curb a mudflow.
More than 13,000 families have been displaced by the hot mud, which has been gushing since May 2006. (dar)
The National Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Team (BPLS) has announced plans to try a new -- and expensive -- method to stop the mud that has been gushing from a gas exploration well in East Java for the past year.
The BPLS hopes that by using the inverted pressure produced by the mud that is already above ground it will be able to plug the well.<>
It will start by constructing "double cover" dams that would contain the mud until it reaches a sufficient volume to serve as a counterweight to the mud coming from the well.
Chairman of the BPLS supervisory board and Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said the method would probably significantly reduce the volume of the mud flowing out of the gas well in Porong, Sidoarjo.
"We expect that at certain point in time the height of the outflowing mud will level with that of the amassing mud and that's when the volume will be reduced significantly," Djoko told reporters after presenting the plan to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday.
Also present in the meeting were members of the BPLS supervisory board, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah, East Java Governor Imam Utomo and Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.
As reported by The Jakarta Post, the government is expected to hire Japanese engineering firm Katahira Engineering to carry out the project, which will cost the government an estimated Rp 600 billion (US$66 million).
The Japanese firm says it successfully carried out a similar project in the Philippines.
Djoko said that a feasibility study for project would kick off next week.
Djoko also quoted Yudhoyono as saying that geological experts needed to be consulted before the project went ahead.
Under the government regulation forming the BPLS, Lapindo is responsible for paying for efforts to stem the mudflow while the government will pay for all expenses relating to infrastructure.
A similar proposal was tabled by an engineer from the Surabaya-based November 10 Institute of Technology, Jaja Laksana.
The proposal, applying the Bernoulli theory, was presented to the now-defunct National Team for the Lapindo Mudflow, but was met with skepticism.
The national team attempted to plug the exploratory gas well by dropping high-density chained balls into the well in an attempt to curb the pressure from below.
The effort, which cost up to Rp 4 billion, yielded little result aside from a brief respite in March that could not be attributed to the dropping of the chained balls.
A professor from Kyoto University in Japan, James Mori, who oversees the university's disaster prevention research institute, said during a seminar on the issue that there was no technology available to properly curb a mudflow.
More than 13,000 families have been displaced by the hot mud, which has been gushing since May 2006. (dar)
