Baghjan gas well in Assam sealed fully

Oil India Limited’s well had been ejecting natural gas and condensates uncontrollably.

Well No. 5 at Oil India Limited’s Baghjan oilfield in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district. Photo: Special Arrangement

Indian and foreign experts on Sunday “killed” a disastrous well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district, 173 days after it had a blowout, ejecting natural gas and associated elements uncontrollably from a depth of 3.7 km.

The blowout began at Well No 5 in OIL’s Baghjan Oilfield, adjoining the ecologically fragile Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, on May 27. To make matters worse, the well caught fire on June 9.

Also read: Process to kill blowout well begins in Assam

“The well has been killed with brine solution and is under control now. Fire has been doused completely,” an OIL spokesperson said from the exploration major’s headquarters at Duliajan in the neighbouring Dibrugarh district.

“There is no pressure in the well now and it will be observed for 24 hours to check if there is any amount of gas migration and pressure build-up. Further operation to abandon the well is in progress,” he added.

OIL initiated the process of injecting “kill fluid” or cement-laced chemical mud, the final phase of well-snubbing operation, about 11 a.m. to kill the blowout well. The operation was headed by an eight-member global experts’ team along with officials of the OIL’s crisis management team.

The well was killed 12 days after 60 tonnes of the snubbing unit, flown in from Canada’s Calgary by an Antonov An-24, reached the site on November 4.