DIBRUGARH, May 28 - The gas well blowout at Baghjan drill site No. 5 in Tinsukia district continues to spew natural gas uncontrollably, 36 hours after the �Christmas Tree� gave way, on Wednesday morning. Four experts from ONGC, Sivasagar are on the job at the accident site. They will be joined by four more petroleum disaster experts from ONGC Gujarat. These additional four experts from Vadodara are expected to reach the accident site by Friday.
A source in Oil India Limited (OIL) revealed that bringing in the four experts from Vadodara have been a logistical challenge, given the travel restrictions throughout the country due to the prevalence of Covid-19. The Dibrugarh district administration has worked overtime to smoothen out the challenges.
The installation of the Blow Out Preventer (BOP) is the top priority to save the Baghjan 5 oilwell, which is a very high gas producing site. OIL is also taking all precautions to prevent any fire at the accident site, as this would be disastrous for the area. Till late this evening, the leaking gas has not caught fire, and a steady stream of water etc is being sprayed to prevent any inferno. Natural gas from the Baghjan area is a major source of revenue for OIL, and Wednesday�s mishap will cause a major dent in the company�s production and revenue. As reported earlier, this oil well alone was producing one lakh cubic metre of gas daily.
Meanwhile OIL has assisted in the running of a community kitchen in the area, which is feeding about 500 people of the affected villages since last evening. Care of the villagers� livestock is also being taken. Due to prevalence of natural gas around the oil rig, villagers have been shifted to safer places, and may have to be there for a couple of days more. The community kitchen is being run by local volunteers of the area.
