OIL suspends work for dousing Baghjan gas well blaze as casing valve cracks

PSU major Oil India Limited (OIL) on Wednesday said that it had to suspend work for putting out the blaze at the damaged Baghjan gas well in Assam after a "casing valve" used during the operation ruptured.

The well no. 5 at Baghjan in Tinsukia district has been spewing gas uncontrollably for 85 days since a blowout on May 27 and it caught fire on June 9.

After placing the Blow Out Preventer (BOP), a hard metal cap, at the mouth of the well on August 17, the company was working on to "kill" the well by inserting chemical fluids into it.

"After successful capping, attempt was made to kill the well by injecting killing fluids into the well. However, due to rupture of a casing valve, the killing operation had to be suspended," OIL said in a statement.

Casing valves are part of a wellhead assembly.

It is being assessed whether the operation could be continued, the statement said adding that the company was also evaluating other options.

The PSU could place the BOP at the mouth of the damaged gas well on Monday in its third attempt. It is the first step towards dousing the blaze.

The BOP is a very heavy metal cover weighing several tonnes, which is placed at the mouth of any gas or oil well to stop leakage of the fuel from under the ground.

On July 31, an endeavour to shut the well did not succeed as a hydraulic lift used to put a lid on the mouth of the gas well gave in and "toppled over". The second attempt to close it failed on August 10 when the iron cable to lift the BOP snapped.

On July 22, three foreign experts from Singaporean firm Alert Disaster Control, which was invited to assist OIL and ONGC experts for putting out the inferno, received burn injuries while they were removing a spool from the well head.

OIL said that it continues to face protests and blockades across a few of its wells and field locations, leading to heavy production loss in the last few months.

"A total of 30,677 metric tonnes of crude oil and 72.21 million metric standard cubic meter of natural gas have been lost respectively as a result of protests, blockades, bandhs in and around Baghjan area since May 27, 2020 due to the blowout," it added.

The company said that various assessments and impact studies of the blowout, as well as the blaze, in villages and nearby forest areas by multiple agencies are going on at present.

"OIL's in-house monitoring of air quality, noise level, gas presence is being continued. Bio remediation activities at affected areas are in progress," it added.

On the relief and rehabilitation process, OIL said that surveys for assessment of damage for compensation by the district administration are in progress in Tinsukia and Doomdooma circles.

"A total of 2,756 families have been surveyed for assessment of damage for compensation till August 14," the PSU said.

Over 9,000 people were initially shifted to 13 relief camps after the well suffered a blowout in May and subsequently caught fire last month.