Major breakthrough by Oil India Limited in dousing Baghjan fire

DOOMDOOMA: After three successive failed attempts, Oil India Limited (OIL) finally achieved partial success in dousing the inferno in the blowout BGN-5 well at Baghjan under Doomdooma LAC in Tinsukia District on Monday.

By diverting the gas to flare pit, partial production was resumed from the blowout well - a feat achieved by OIL three weeks after its 'kill the well' operation failed on August 18, a day after getting huge success in installing Blow Out Preventer (BoP) stack over the well head after two failed attempts. Confirming the development, OIL spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika said the efforts to divert the gas had yielded results and the fire at the blowout well has been successfully doused for now. "With this, we have started partial production by sending the natural gas to the Early Production System (EPS) at Baghjan. However, the success is yet not complete. We are still observing many other parameters to fully ascertain that the gas diversion efforts is fully successful," Hazarika said, adding further that some gas had been diverted to two well site flare pits where the gas was being flared and some quantity of gas was being sent through two separate lines, from BoP through ground X Mass Tree, to Baghjan EPS for partial production. "It will likely take few more hours before we can call it a success," he added. Considering observed leakage through wellhead, it was decided for well's safety to open the BoP Ram and flare the gas through it as was the case earlier. Experts will explore the possibility of welding the leakage points, Hazarika further said.

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