Preparation on to cap damaged OIL well in Assam spewing gas for 78 days

Preparations are on to cap the damaged OIL well at Baghjan in Assam, which has been spewing gas uncontrollably for 78 days, the PSU said.

Two attempts to cap the well, which is situated in Tinsukia district, made in a fortnight have failed.

A release by the oil exploration major said enlargement of the flange bolt hole of the 11 inch spacer spool has been completed overnight at its central workshop and it has been transferred to the well site early Wednesday morning, said a release of the oil exploration major.

Connection of this new spacer spool with the capping blow out preventer (BOP) stack is in progress. Following this the BOP stack shall be pressure tested again, the company said.

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

Rigging up of the repaired bull lines with the Athey wagon, the equipment for fighting oil-field fires, is also in progress at the site. The Athey wagon will be load tested.

Stating that all safety precautions are being maintained and are in place, the release said all efforts are being taken to control the well at the earliest.

It said a total of 2756 families have been surveyed till August 11 in Doomdooma and Tinsukia Circle for assessment of damage for compensation.

The company also said that oil and gas production still continues to be affected due to forceful closure of few oil and gas 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.

About impact on oil and gas production due to protests, blockades and bandhs staged in and around Baghjan area since May 27 due to the blowout, the release said 26280 metric tonnes of crude oil and 63.04 million metric st. cubic meter of natural gas have been lost.

Meanwhile, the environmental impact assessment study on various parameters are being carried out by TERI, ERM, CSIR-NEIST, IIT-Guwahati apart from OILs in-house monitoring of air quality, noise level, gas presence.

Bio remediation activities at affected areas are also in progress, it added.

The well number 5 at Baghjan in Tinsukia district has been spewing gas uncontrollably for the last 78 days since May 27. It caught fire on June 9 killing two of OIL's firefighters at the site.

The first attempt to cap the well failed on July 31 and the second on August 10.