The final operation of well-killing to extinguish the fire at the damaged gas well of Oil India Limited (OIL) at Baghjan in Eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district failed on Tuesday due to “technical reasons”.
After Monday’s successful capping operation and two failed attempts to shut OIL’s damaged gas well No.5 at Baghjan, all preparations for carrying out well-killing operation such as connections of kill lines and choke manifold lines were completed on Tuesday, ND TV reported.
However, the final well-killing work — a risky operation that involves pumping in mud with high pressure into the well — failed on Tuesday.
“The process of killing of well was attempted but there were some challenges and the mission failed. After experts at Duliajan return, we will know the actual reason. The next course of action will also be known later,” Oil India limited spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika said.
He said the killing of the well will be done through spraying chemicals. “These are mostly synthetic chemicals which are used for killing of well.”
It’s been 81 days since the oil well at Baghjan in Tinsukia district, 500 km from main city Guwahati, had a blowout (on May 27) and was leaking gas, causing damage to the region’s wetlands and biodiversity.
The well caught fire on June 9, killing two Oil India firefighters.