Tinsukia: Uncontrollable discharge of gas condensates from an oil well operated by Oil India Limited (OIL) at Baghjan in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district triggered panic in the area on Wednesday.
Officials said the gas leakage was reported at a suction pipe on the surface level of the BGI well belonging to OIL at Baghjan due to a technical snag.
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The incident on Wednesday took place around three years after the oil well blowout and subsequent fire at Baghjan in 2020.
BGI well, one of the two new wells drilled at Baghjan after the blowout, connected with a network of pipes to EPS was set to start production of hydrocarbons on Wednesday.
Confirming the development, OIL spokesperson Bhairab Bhuyan said, a technical snag was reported as the well was being prepared for production which led to gas leakage.
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“Immediately technical experts were deployed and the leakage has been plugged after closing the well,” Bhuyan said.
“There are no damages to the local population or environment. The extent of damage to OIL is a minor one,” he added.
In technical parlance, the well has been shut down to allow repairing of the pipe.
Local residents have demanded the authorities stop all drilling operations until safety measures are undertaken in the area.
“The leakage is absolutely under control and there is no law and order problem,” Tinsukia deputy commissioner Swapneel Paul said.
A massive fire had broken out at well number five of a plant at Baghjan on June 9, 2020; days after a major blowout took place on May 27.
The “blowout” occurred at a producing gas well number 5 of OIL, situated in close proximity to the Dibru-Saikhowa national park and the famous migratory bird habitat Maguri-Motapung Beel.
The fire claimed the lives of two firefighters and went on raging for months before it got doused.
OIL has now a total of 24 wells in the Baghjan belt.