Fire at Assam’s Baghjan Oil Field Doused Completely After 172 Days

OIL’s spokesperson said the blowout was brought well under control after more than 5-and-a-half months of ordeal.

Smoke billows from a fire at Baghjan oil field, a week after a blowout, in Tinsukia district.

(Photo: PTI)

The fire at well number 5 in Assam’s Baghjan was successfully doused on Sunday, 15 November, 172 days after the blowout, news agency ANI reported. There is no pressure in the well and it will be under observation for the next 24 hours, news agency ANI quoted Oil India Limited as saying.

“Baghjan blowout well successfully killed. Well has been killed with brine solution and (is) under control now. Fire doused completely. There’s no pressure in well now and the same will be observed for 24 hours. Further operation to abandon the well is in progress.”  

Oil India Ltd (OIL), as quoted by ANI  

OIL's spokesperson Tridiv Hazarkika said the blowout was brought well under control after more than five-and-a-half months of ordeal. "We believe that the problem is now over and after this, the well abandonment operation will be taken up," he was quoted as saying.

According to a report by The Sentinel, a snubbing unit reached Baghjan from Canada on 5 November to douse the fire that has been raging since 27 May.

On 27 May, in an event termed as a ‘blowout’, oil and natural gas started leaking from the Baghjan oil field in Assam’s Tinsukia district. A fire broke out in the next two weeks, displacing many families who are still staging protests against OIL.

In the past, there have been many attempts to control the fire in Assam. Experts from a Singapore-based disaster control group have intervened and a ‘killing fluid’ has been injected into the well. These attempts had yielded no results, making it the longest fire in India.