OUR CORRESPONDENT
TINSUKIA: As the oil condensate from Baghjan oil well blowout is engulfing more areas, foul smell of strong oil and gas emanating from the oil field has been felt even 4-5 km away from the blowout site much within Tinsukia town, causing fear of impending ignition. People have questioned the claim of OIL Chairman and Managing Director Sushil Chandra Mishra that the condensate emitting from the blowout was harmless and contained minimal amount of CO2 and no SO2, which contradicted OIL's own report published by GM(HSE) in 2017 on gas composition of Baghjan oil field.
The blowout which began on May 27 has still not been controlled and is instead gushing out more fiercely and vigorously with intermittent deafening explosions according to local people. Though heavy downpour during the past two days brought some relief to OIL authority, the flash flood will bring further misery for the people of Baghan and the nearby areas.
The CMD OIL stated in a press meet at Tinsukia on Sunday that the condensate emitting from the blowout was harmless and contained minimal amount of CO2 and no SO2. But a report on gas composition of well fluid- Baghjan area (Annexure-III) prepared on 21.8.2017 by AK Acharya, general manager (HSE) and also Nodal Officer (EC/FC/NBWL) of OIL, revealed that the fluid contained Methane-85.94, Ethane-3.94-4.36,Propane-2.21-2.44, besides other gases like i-Butane, n-Butane etc in <1 by volume.
Saroj Gohain, president of Tinsukia Press Club whose residence is 4 km away from the blowout site, has been experiencing foul smell of gas inside his house and he told this correspondent that some parts of his courtyard had been blanketed by the sediments of condensate. Same was in the case of Ranjit Dutta, president of E-Media Forum, of Chaliha Nagar, Tinsukia.
A source in the State Pollution Control Board who is also monitoring the Baghjan development, said that from the prima facie observation it could be postulated that gas from the blowout that inflicted extensive damage to life and property, including agricultural land, contained droplets of methane and other hydrocarbon gases though analytical report was yet to be prepared. But it can be affirmed that the agricultural lands, including tea plantation, will be totally unproductive at least for the next two years.
Though OIL authority has ordered a high-level inquiry into the gas blowout, besides serving a show cause notice to Gujarat-based outsourcing agency-M/s John Energy Ltd, the Tinsukia district administration, a stakeholder, is yet to institute any independent inquiry to assess the extent of damage to property, livestock and biodiversity of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Maguri-Motapung wetland.
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