(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Several hundred inhabitants of the village of Marinza in southern Albania were ordered to leave their homes after a natural gas explosion sent fumes high in the sky.
Albanian authorities ordered the evacuation of an entire village in southern Albania after two uncontrolled leakages of natural gas occurred during drilling works for a new well owned by Bankers Petroleum, the main petroleum extraction company in Albania.
Local media footage showed plumes hundreds of metres high in the sky. The inhabitants reported that their water wells exploded with a mix of shale, water and gas. No casualities were reported.
Bankers Petroleum said in a statement that it is investigating the causes of the explosion and is working to control the leakage before starting clean-up works.
The Ministry of Energy and Industry said there was no further risk to the villagers and that the leaked gas posed no threat to the health of the population.
Bankers Petroleum is a Canadian-based oil extraction company that uses techniques developed early in Canada and US to extract heavy oil from mature oilfields.
Bankers is currently the biggest company in Albania, earning $583 million during last year.
It has experienced several incidents during the last few years and had been accused of causing earthquakes and damaging and polluting the environment.
The company has denied these allegations and says it has spent about $70 million in clean-up projects, taking responsibility not only for its own operations but for pollution inherited from the period when the oilfield was operated by the government of Albania.
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