Gas blowout at ONGC well in Assam's Sivasagar, emergency steps underway

A blowout took place on Thursday at a crude well of energy major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in Assam's Sivasagar district, and it is spewing gas uncontrollably at present, officials said.

No injury has been reported so far and the well has not caught fire yet.

The incident occurred at the well no. RDS 147 of rig no SKP 135 in Rudrasagar oil field of ONGC. A private firm SK Petro Services was operating the well on behalf of the state-run Maharatna company.

According to a senior official, who is present at the site, told PTI that there is no danger currently and the company hopes to bring the well under control soon.

"There is an uncontrolled flow of gas. We are trying to control the well. All senior officials are at the site. We are actively mobilising all resources required for controlling the well and we hope to do it as soon as possible. Work is underway," he added.

Another official said that there has been no injury at the site, and the well has not caught fire yet.

"It is an old crude well and not under production. A perforation job was underway for zone transfer. It is a kind of servicing of the well. The production was supposed to start from a new zone after the perforation job.

"At the time of the incident, the logging perforation operation was going on. Suddenly gas started coming out in an uncontrolled manner immediately after the perforation, leading to the blowout," he added.

Presently, the well site is under control and all emergency services have been deployed, the official said.

"Currently, a well killing job is in progress. Some locals in the nearby areas have decided to leave their homes temporarily fearing a blast from the blowout site," he added.

This ONGC incident reminded people of the worst industrial disaster of the Northeast in 2020, when an OIL well blowout incident took the lives of three employees of the PSU major and injured several others.

Well no 5 at Baghjan in Tinsukia district spewed gas uncontrollably for 173 days since May 27 and it caught fire on June 9, 2020.

In a multi-agency effort, the damaged gas well at Baghjan in Assam was 'killed' and the blaze was fully doused on November 15, followed by the abandoning of the well on December 3, 2020 after completing all steps to control it.