ONGC well in Assam capped after 16 days of gas leakage: Puri

The minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas also thanked Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state government officials for their support to the team on the ground.

Guwahati: Experts from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and from a US-based firm on Friday finally capped one of its gas wells in Assam that blew out on June 12.

The capping put an end to gas discharge and the fortnight-long fear and panic among residents of Bhatiapar village, who had to be shifted to a safer place fearing a potential disaster.

"At the break of dawn, ONGC’s Crisis Management Team, along with experts from the US-based Cudd and local operations teams, commenced the critical operation to safely remove the damaged blowout preventer from the well head. The effort was carried out with high precision and coordination to ensure stability and prevent any imbalance or toppling during the lifting process," the ONGC said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

"Once the BOP was safely removed, the pre-positioned capping stack, prepared at the staging area, was carefully and accurately placed onto the wellhead. This pivotal action redirected the gas flow securely to the top of the capping stack, ensuring containment and control."

The ONGC said the capping of RDS#147A marked the successful culmination of ONGC’s well control efforts. "The operation was executed with utmost safety, without any injury, fatality, or incident of fire."

The ONGC had to rope in the US experts as efforts by their technical team failed to stop the gas leak, increasing fear among the local residents. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, who visited the site on July 24, expressed unhappiness over the ONG's efforts. Sarma had even written to the union petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri criticising the ONGC's steps and sought his intervention to control the situation.

“This blowout started on 12th June and has been capped successfully within the shortest possible time following all the best practices,” Puri posted on X on Friday. The Union Minister thanked Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and State government officials “for the excellent and continuous support to the teams on the ground.”