The damaged gas well at Baghjan in Assam was successfully killed and the blaze was fully doused on Sunday after over five months of a blowout. Process to control the well by joint efforts of multiple teams, including foreign experts, also faced a series of setbacks.
“The well has been killed with brine solution and under control now. Fire has been doused completely. Further operation to abandon the well is in progress” said, Tridiv Hazarika, Spokesperson, Oil India Ltd (OIL).
There is no pressure in the well now and it will be under observation over the next 24 hours to check if there is any amount of gas migration and pressure build-up. Experts from Singaporean firm Alert Disaster Control were actively engaged in the final operation to control the well.
The company’s Director (Exploration and Development) P Chandrasekaran, Director (Operations) PK Goswami and Resident Chief Executive DK Das visited the well site following the successful killing operation after 172 days of the blowout and held detailed discussions with the experts from Alert.
Well no 5 at Baghjan in the Tinsukia district was spewing gas uncontrollably since May 27 and it caught fire on June 9, killing two of OIL’s firefighters at the site. On September 9, a 25-year old electrical engineer of the OIL lost his life due to high voltage electric shock when he was working at the well site. On July 22, three foreign experts from the Alert Disaster Control, which was assisting OIL and ONGC experts in putting out the inferno, received burn injuries while they were removing a spool from the wellhead.
