Canadian experts douse fire of Baghjan oil well in Tinsukia District

A CORRESPONDENT

DOOMDOOMA: The fire in Oil India Limited (OIL) blowout well (BGN-5) at Baghjan — under Doomdooma Legislative Assembly Constituency (LAC) in Tinsukia District — was finally doused on Sunday. The success is attributed to the efforts of the eight-member team of experts from Canada. They worked with the 'Snubbing unit' brought from Calgary in Canada on November 5.

This result was achieved on the 173rd day since the blowout first took place on May 27. Consequently, the blowout well caught fire on June 9. To make things worse, thousands of people were rendered homeless even as the fire devastated the surrounding dwelling houses and paddy fields.

The OIL proceeded with trial-and-error methods at different phases in its attempts to "kill the well". In the process, it had to pass through a very turbulent period like bad weather condition, people's protest, the injury of three foreign experts belonging to M/s Alert Disaster Control of Singapore.

Following three unsuccessful attempts to cover the mouth of the well with the 'BoP' (Blow out Preventer), the OIL was compelled to find out a device to divert gas to three nearby pits for reducing the high pressure of the gas on one hand and utilise a part of it for production on the other.

OIL spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika told The Sentinel, "The well has been killed with brine solution. It is under control now. The fire has been completely doused. There is no pressure in the well now. The well will be observed for the next 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."

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