120 wells of crude oil came to a halt yesterday at Meliha, a spot owned by AGIBA Petroleum Company, because of a black-out which halted the turbines generating oils in the wells. Initial losses were estimated at some $370,000 at Meliha alone, in addition to the losses suffered in nearby locations. Meanwhile, the company's board chairman refused to make any comment. Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that power generators at Meliha stopped working for about four hours yesterday, from 6 to 10 a.m. As a result, 120 wells stopped producing almost 10,000 barrels of crude oils. Meliha is a main location to ship petroleum to the port of el-Hamra on the northern coast. Four locations supply these crude oils, which are later exported. Some companies, such as Khalda and Badr El-Din, share the shipping lines from the location to el-Hamra port and this caused breakdowns to all of these companies. A source at the company said cable breakdowns have repeatedly happened but had never lasted more than half an hour so far, while this time it has caused heavy losses. The source said a faulty maintenance was the cause of these breakdowns, as there were no spare parts originally designed for power generators and experts used alternatives that eventually led to these problems. AGINA board chairman said the company had admitted the breakdowns and justified them by saying they are always possible.
