Assam gas leak fire: 2 firefighters dead, actions delayed, and long haul ahead for OIL

In this article, senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah outlines the Assam gas leak fire and says that two-week delay in getting foreign experts to tackle a gas leak may cost Oil Indian Limited massively as public protests have erupted because of the fire. OIL has suspended two of its employees for negligence and set up a five-member inquiry committee to look into the disaster.

New Delhi: A crucial two-week delay in getting foreign experts to tackle a gas leak may cost Oil Indian Limited (OIL) dearly now besides the loss of lives of two OIL firefighters and the loss of property after a gas leak incident in oil-rich eastern Assam which has turned a 1.5 km radius area looking like a scorched warzone.

Because during this time, the gas leak has 'blown out' into a towering inferno, public protests have erupted because of the fire, survival of the ‘Maguri Motapung’ wetland lies in question while the ecology of the sensitive Dibru-Saikhowa National Park has been substantially damaged.

At 10:30 AM on May 27, well number 5 in Baghjan locality near eastern Assam’s Tinsukia town started to leak gas during ‘workover’ operations carried out by a Gujarat-based oilfield services company M/s John Energy. And from Saturday, the cold and humid weather became hot and dry. On Monday, the gas leak caught a spark and a catastrophic fire started razing everything it faced to ashes.

In oil exploration, ‘blow-out’ is the uncontrolled surge of oil or gas from a well. ‘Workover’ is the performing of major maintenance or remedial measures in oil or gas wells.

While OIL has suspended two of its employees for negligence on Wednesday, it had already issued a ‘show cause’ notice to M/s John Energy besides setting up a five-member inquiry committee to look into the disaster.

Set up in 1987, John Energy operates in about 2,500 oil wells. The company set up a new vertical of natural gas dehydration in June 2014 after the gas leakage in GAIL’s KG-Basin pipeline in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

Read: Two firefighters die, over 1,610 families displaced in gas well blowout blaze in Assam

OIL, a state-owned PSU with its headquarters in Noida and operational headquarters in Duliajan in eastern Assam, zeroed on three foreign firms as India does not have any specialist firms for such emergencies.

Of the three firms—‘Boots and Coots’, ‘Wild Well’ and the Singapore-based ‘Alert Disaster Control’, the last one was selected.

But about 13 days were lost from the day of the leak to the three experts from the Singapore firm actually reaching the OIL-headquarter town of Duliajan on June 9 (Tuesday).

A senior OIL officer told ETV Bharat on condition of anonymity, "We have brought in emergency experts from Singapore. If granted immediate access, it will take at least a month to control the fire otherwise it will take much longer."

The problem in getting access is that people in Baghjan, scared over the towering fires that have razed 20-25 houses, trees, vegetation and farmlands, have got violent and burnt down several OIL vehicles, preventing the experts from getting closer to the fire to study the fire.

Just for perspective, in 2005, a similar incident had taken place in Assam’s Dikom and it had taken the authorities about 45 days to control the blaze. In other words, OIL should be prepared for the long haul now.