Attempt to kill blowout in Baghjan oil well aborted by OIL

Oil India Limited (OIL) on Wednesday said that an attempt was made to kill the fire in Baghjan oil well by injecting killing fluids but the operation had to be suspended due to rupture of a casing valve.

“After successful capping, an attempt was made to kill the well by injecting killing fluids into the well. However due to the rupture of a casing valve the killing operation had to be suspended. In the meanwhile, several other options like drilling of relief wells are being actively evaluated. The state government has again been requested to allot land for drilling relief wells,” OIL said in a release.

“A total of 2,756 families have been surveyed for assessment of damage for compensation till August 18 in Doomdooma and Tinsukia circle,” it added.

It further said: “Oil and Gas Production still continues to be affected due to forceful closure of few oil and gas wells connected to Baghjan EPS. Drilling and workover operation also continue to be affected at a few of the locations due to forceful closure of operation.”

A total of 30,677 metric tonnes of crude oil and 72.21 million metric St cubic metres of natural gas have been lost respectively as a result of protests/blockades/ bandhs in and around the Baghjan area since May 27 due to the blowout.

On May 27 this year, a blowout occurred after the well suddenly became active while OIL was carrying out workover operations in the gas-producing well Baghjan-5 under Baghjan Oilfield. The well caught fire on June 9. (ANI)