Oil India Limited(OIL) on Monday diverted the gas from Baghjan no 5 oil well to flare pit but the success lasted only for a couple of hours after an explosion ripped apart the well-head causing valve around the BOP due to intense pressure from the gas well.
For OIL it was back to square one as gas again began spewing out from the well and the blaze which was extinguished for a brief period once again started burning.
OIL Spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika said, “Today we successfully diverted the gas of Baghjan no 5 oil well to flare pit and some amount to Baghjan EPS through the pipeline.”
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“During that time our engineers saw that there was leakage from the well-head casing thread. The operation had to be stopped and once again it was back to square one with gas flowing out like before and the fire continues to burn. We have stopped the operation for now,” he added.
“The expert team from Alert Disaster Control and OIL will carry out welding work to plug the leak later on,” he further said.
Earlier, after multiple failures in capping the well, a change in strategy by experts brought the desired result in extinguishing the inferno which has been raging on since the well caught fire on June 9, fourteen days after the blowout occurred at the Baghjan-5 gas well on May 27.
After the initial success early in the day, OIL spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika mentioned that around 9.25 am the blazing inferno became silent after experts diverted the flow of gas which has been uncontrollably spewing from the surface of the earth to the Baghjan EPS (Early Production System), 4-km away from the Baghjan well.
“We have to repair the leakage through welding and after that again we will divert the gas to flare pit and EPS,” Hazarika said.