Experts on Sunday “killed” the disastrous well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia District, after 172 days on Sunday. The blowout began at Well No. 5 of the Oil India Limited (OIL), adjoining the ecologically fragile Dibru-Saikhowa National Park on May 27. The news of the blowout being successfully doused was confirmed by Oil India Limited (OIL) on its Twitter handle on Sunday.
Baghjan blowout well successfully killed: The well has been killed with brine solution & under controll now. Fire has bn doused completely. There is no pressure in d well now & d same will b observed for 24 hrs 2 check if there is any amount of gas migration & pressure build up. pic.twitter.com/y1t2bnzGB4
— Oil India Limited (@OilIndiaLimited) November 15, 2020
The OIL said there is no pressure in the well now and the same will be observed for 24 hours to check if there is any amount of gas migration and pressure builds up. The Snubbing unit reached Baghjan recently from Calgary in Canada and started their work. After successful capping of the well on August 17, 2020, followed by subsequent challenges encountered in surface killing operations, it was decided to kill the Baghjan blowout well by the deployment of a snubbing unit.
The massive fire had engulfed the whole Baghjan village which affected the whole region. The villagers had to flee from the villages to save their lives. They had to take shelter at the nearby relief camps. “We have never seen such a huge fire earlier. Our houses and property were damaged in the fire. We have saved our lives but lost all our belongings. But today, we are happy that the fire has been doused,” said an affected villager.
Oil India Limited (OIL) released a statement regarding the issue that read, “Fire has been doused completely. There is no pressure in the well now and the same will be observed for 24 hours to check if there is any amount of gas migration & pressure build-up.” OIL also revealed that further operations have started to abandon the well.