OIL suspends work for dousing Baghjan gas well blaze as casing valve cracks

PSU major Oil India Limited (OIL) on Wednesday said that it had to suspend work for putting out the blaze at the damaged Baghjan gas well in Assam after a “casing valve” used during the operation ruptured.

The well no. 5 at Baghjan in Tinsukia district has been spewing gas uncontrollably for 85 days since a blowout on May 27 and it caught fire on June 9.

After placing the Blow Out Preventer (BOP), a hard metal cap, at the mouth of the well on August 17, the company was working on to “kill” the well by inserting chemical fluids into it.

“After successful capping, attempt was made to kill the well by injecting killing fluids into the well. However, due to rupture of a casing valve, the killing operation had to be suspended,” OIL said in a statement.