Massive fire breaks out at Oil India's gas well in eastern Assam

A massive fire broke out in a gas well of Oil India Limited (OIL) near Dibru Saikhowa National Park in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district, from where natural gas and condensate was uncontrollably flowing for the past 14 days.

The well at Baghjan under Baghjan oilfields, situated about 500-km east of Guwahati had a blowout on May 27 morning. A blowout results uncontrolled release of crude oil or gas from a well, when pressure control system fails.

Nearly 2,500 people living near the mishap site were shifted to relief camps for safety.

Black smoke billowing out of the fire site was seen from miles away with hundreds of local residents fled the area. Local residents said they heard sound of explosions from the well in flame.

The fire broke out minutes after OIL announced that efforts to plug the gas flow reached its final stage.

A statement issued by OIL on Tuesday evening said the well caught fire a day after a team of three experts from Singapore reached the site and were discussing ways to plug the cap with engineers of OIL and ONGCL. A fire fighter of ONGCL sustained minor burn injury but there was no casualty due to the incident, it said while asking people not to panic.

The oil PSU, however, said the entire operation to plug the well may take four weeks.

"The expert team expressed confidence that the situation can be controlled and well can be capped safely. The situation demands large quantity of water for creating a water blanket, installation of high discharge pumps and removal of debris. The entire operation may take four weeks but efforts will be made to reduce the time-frame as much as possible," the statement said.

The scared local residents attacked vehicles of OIL while alleging that proper fire fighting measures were not taken by the OIL since the blowout on May 27. They also feared adverse impact on the Dibru Saikhowa National Park and the Maguri Mottapung wetland situated near the site.

NDRF and other rescue agencies has been pressed into service but the fire could not be brought under control till 7.30pm.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called up union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and requested him to take all steps to control the fire and ensure safety of the local residents. He also urged defence minister Rajnath Singh to take help of air force and army to control the fire.

The OIL had earlier said earlier said with very limited space and non-availability of open space above the well head, placement of Blow Out Preventer (BOP) is a huge challenge as it entails huge risk. It is planned to place the BOP on the wellhead through a hydraulically driven mechanical transporter. The design and fabrication of the hydraulically driven mechanical transporter requires high degree of precision, strength and safety features as this will be operated against very high pressure of the gas in a hazardous environment, it said.