GUWAHATI: The Oil India Limited (OIL) is in touch with foreign experts to stop the blowout of natural gas from one of its oil wells in Assam’s Tinsukia district.
The oil major has been in touch with three US expert groups to plug the well. There has been no letup in the blowout – or uncontrolled emission of gas – ever since a burst at Baghjan BGR Oil Well No.5 on Wednesday morning.
“We are hopeful we can bring the situation under control by Thursday. We are consulting three US expert groups and we would need their expertise only if our efforts don’t yield any results,” an OIL spokesperson said.
From Monday, the public sector undertaking would issue a public statement on the progress of repair.
According to sources from the OIL, such an incident is rare and the last in Assam had occurred in 2005 at Dikom in Dibrugarh district. On that occasion, experts had to be flown in from abroad to control a blaze at an abandoned oil well 45 days later.
Meanwhile, OIL’s Chairman and Managing Director Sushil Chandra Mishra inspected the site on Sunday.
“We are focused on providing relief to people who have been affected. At the same time, we are trying to bring the operations back to normal,” he told journalists.
There is a strong smell of gas in the air and the authorities have already evacuated some 700 people living in villages adjoining the site of blowout. The people were lodged at some relief camps.
Wildlife activists and environmentalists are worried about the threat the emission of gas posed to flora and fauna of the area. The Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, known for its feral horses, is about 2 km away. The activists said the incident had already affected aquatic animals, including the highly-endangered Gangetic dolphins, and fish at river Dibru.