Massive fire breaks out at Oil India's gas well in Assam

The natural gas well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in Upper Assam's Tinsukia district that has been spewing gas and condensate, caught fire on Tuesday, 14 days after it had a blowout.

Tinsukia: An incident has triggered panic among the residents of the Baghjan village in Tinsukia district of Assam, as a massive fire broke out at the natural gas well of Oil India Limited on Tuesday. Two employees of ONGC were also injured during the fire mishap and they were referred to Assam Medical College at Dibrugarh.

According to sources, 14 days ago, the production well of Baghjan blown out while workover operation was going on. Large plumes of smoke are emanating from the well, located at Baghjan, and can be seen several kilometres away from the site close to Dibru Saikhowa National Park and the eco-sensitive Maguri Mottapung wetland. Firefighters have rushed to the spot and efforts are on to douse it.

As the ONGC experts failed to douse the fire at the oil well, three experts from Singaporean firm Alert Disaster Control were at the blowout site and some equipment was being removed when the fire broke out this afternoon, sources said.

"The experts from Alert complimented OIL for all the preparatory works carried out so far and mentioned that based on their wide experience of handling over a thousand blowouts in around 135 countries all over the world under different conditions, they are confident of controlling the well at the earliest with necessary support from OIL.

As many as 650 families, comprising 2,500 people, have been shifted to three relief camps after the OIL's oil well at the Baghjan village started releasing natural gas into the air after a leak on May 27.

In a series of tweets, the Chief Minister's Office said Sarabananda Sonowal spoke to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the phone regarding the incident.

• The CM has already directed to deploy fire & emergency services, army and police officials at the site to control the situation.
  
  The CM also directed district admin to ensure safety of people and appealed to local people to not panic.

  — Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) June 9, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  The CM has already directed to deploy fire & emergency services, army and police officials at the site to control the situation.
  
  The CM also directed district admin to ensure safety of people and appealed to local people to not panic.

  — Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) June 9, 2020

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  The CM has already directed to deploy fire & emergency services, army and police officials at the site to control the situation.
  
  The CM also directed district admin to ensure safety of people and appealed to local people to not panic.

  — Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) June 9, 2020

"The CM has already directed to deploy fire & emergency services, army and police officials at the site to control the situation. The CM also directed district admin to ensure the safety of people and appealed to local people to not panic," a company spokesperson said.

• CM Shri @sarbanandsonwal spoke to Union Petroleum Minister Shri @dpradhanbjp over phone regarding incident of fire at the gas explosion site at the Baghjan oilfield, Tinsukia.

  — Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) June 9, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  CM Shri @sarbanandsonwal spoke to Union Petroleum Minister Shri @dpradhanbjp over phone regarding incident of fire at the gas explosion site at the Baghjan oilfield, Tinsukia.

  — Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) June 9, 2020

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  CM Shri @sarbanandsonwal spoke to Union Petroleum Minister Shri @dpradhanbjp over phone regarding incident of fire at the gas explosion site at the Baghjan oilfield, Tinsukia.

  — Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) June 9, 2020

Reportedly, CM Sonowal had a telephonic conversation with Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan regarding the blast at Baghjan oil field at Tinsukia.

Sonowal informed the incident at the Baghjan oil field and asked him to arrange all possible measures to control the situation.

The chief minister also instructed the district administration to ensure the security and safety of the people in and around the blast site. He also requested the people not to panic as the government will take all measures to control the fire.

Meanwhile, the environmentalists, academics, wildlife experts, writers, social activists and journalists have expressed concern over the environmental consequences of the blowout near the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, a biodiversity hotspot.