Preparations made for capping blowout: OIL

Dibrugarh, August 8

PSU major the OIL on Saturday said preparations had been made for capping the blowout in its well at Baghjan in Assam which was spewing gas uncontrollably for over 70 days.

The well head and its plinth have been made ready for the fire control operation, stated a release from Oil India Limited (OIL).

The rig up load testing of the complete wagon is planned for Saturday and treatment of well killing fluid is under way, it said.

Well number five at Baghjan has been spewing gas uncontrollably for the last 66 days since May 27 and it caught fire on June 9, killing two of OIL’s firefighters at the site, besides injuring three foreign experts.

“Capping blow out preventer (BOP) stack with kill lines have been tested successfully. Assembling of Athey Wagon has been completed (an equipment for fighting oil field fires) with newly fabricated axle, modified boom sections and with other accessories,” the PSU added.

 The water deluge system has been readied for supporting all operations and safety systems are also in place, read the release.

The OIL said: “Oil and gas production continues to be affected due to forceful closure of few wells connected to Baghjan EPS. Drilling and workover operation also continue to be affected at few of the locations due to forceful closure of operation.”

As a result of protests, blockades and bandhs by locals since May 27 due to the blowout, the company’s cumulative loss of crude oil and natural gas has been 2,4068 MT and 57.16 MMSCM, respectively, the release added.

The OIL said it had surveyed 2,739 families till August 7 in Doomdooma and Tinsukia circles for providing relief and rehabilitation.

Environmental Impact Assessment study on various parameters are being carried out by various agencies such as TERI, CSIR-NEIST and IIT-Guwahati apart from the OILs in-house monitoring of air quality, noise level and gas presence, the release said.

Bio remediation activities at affected areas are also in progress, the release added. PTI