Sivasagar ONGC gas blowout: 70 families evacuated, well-killing operation underway

Sivasagar, June 14: A major gas leak from well RDS#147A in the Rudrasagar field near Bhatiapar in Assam’s Sivasagar district has prompted emergency response efforts, with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) initiating a well-killing operation to stem the outflow.

The leak, which began on Thursday, has led to the precautionary evacuation of around 70 families from the surrounding area. The evacuees have been relocated to a relief camp set up in Bhati Bongaon, amid fears of a possible explosion at the site.

Officials said the relief camp has been equipped with essential supplies, including food, drinking water, and medical care. A police team has been deployed to maintain security, while an ambulance with a medical team remains stationed at the site to address any health emergencies.

According to a statement issued on Friday, ONGC’s crisis management team is on-site and working to contain the situation. The team has deployed the necessary equipment to bring the well under control.

“The situation remains unchanged since Thursday. The well has not caught fire, and no injuries have been reported so far. All emergency services have been activated in the area,” an ONGC official said.

Entry to the site has been restricted to authorised operational personnel due to the continued presence of gas in the area.

ONGC has launched a detailed investigation to determine the cause of the blowout.

“ONGC is confident that the situation will be brought under control very soon. A detailed investigation has been initiated to ascertain the root cause of the incident,” the statement added.

Earlier, ONGC said that gas emissions were detected on Thursday during servicing operations at the well.

An official clarified that the affected well is an old, non-producing crude well, and that a perforation job was underway to initiate production from a new zone.

“It was a routine servicing operation. The production was expected to begin from a different reservoir zone after the perforation. The incident occurred during logging and perforation work, when gas started escaping uncontrollably immediately after perforation, leading to the blowout,” the official explained.

The incident has drawn comparisons with the 2020 industrial disaster at Baghjan in Assam’s Tinsukia district, where an OIL well blowout killed three employees and injured several others.

The gas leak there continued unchecked for 173 days, and the well caught fire on June 9, 2020. A coordinated multi-agency effort finally brought the situation under control, with the well successfully capped and abandoned on December 3, 2020.

– With inputs from PTI