A delay has been caused on the Central Petroleum (ASX: CTP) Surprise 1 well, due to the monkey board and 129 stands of racked drill pipe being twisted around the rig mast by 30 degrees, whilst the wireline sheaves were being repositioned.
Central confirmed that the drilling rig is undamaged and able to continue drilling.
No individuals of the company were injured in the incident, with staff working with the rig owner, governmental authorities and others to normalise the situation without further incident.
As a result, drilling operations have necessarily been suspended until the required plant and equipment are mobilised to site in order to re-align the monkey board, with an anticipated minimum of 7 days.