Experts from Singapore to fly down to Assam to plug oil well blowout

An expert team from Singapore is slated to reach Assam on Wednesday to assist Oil India Limited (OIL) plug the blowout in an oil well near a national park in Tinsukia district as natural gas continued to flow since May 27.

This comes after Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called up Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the second time since the incident occured that prompted evacuation of 2,500 people to three relief camps.

A joint secretary of the Union petroleum ministry reached Assam on Tuesday to monitor the situation, a statement from Sonowal's office said. "Though best of the efforts have been put in place by the crisis management team to control the release, gushes of natural gas have been oozing unrelentingly. Following this, Chief Minister Sonowal called up Union Minister Pradhan, briefed him about the situation and requested him to take up immediate steps like taking the help of foreign experts in stopping the release," it said.

The OIL on Monday said a gas producing well at Baghjan under Baghjan oil field situated near Dibru Saikhowa National Park had suddenly become very active at around 10.30 am on May 27. Oil is uncontrollably spewing natural gas since then.

Sight of the carcass of an endangered Gangetic dolphin and fish, which were found floating in a wetland south of the mishap site, raised concerns of environmental impact of the oil reportedly spilling out of the well. The OIL, however, assured that all measures are being taken to avoid impact on the environment and on people living near the oilfield.