On May 27, an oil well in Assam’s Tinsukia district began to leak gas and condensate. The “blowout” eventually sparked a fire on June 9, k...
On May 27, an oil well in Assam’s Tinsukia district began to leak gas and condensate. The “blowout” eventually sparked a fire on June 9, killing two firemen, displacing over 10,000 local residents, devastating flora and fauna in the surrounding areas, and sparking unprecedented public anger against Oil India Limited, the central government-owned company which drills oil in Assam.
Facing a barrage of local protests, the company has announced plans to cap the well – that is, seal and kill it off – by this weekend.
But documents submitted to the Union environment ministry reveal that the company has massive expansion plans worth Rs 7,000 crore, which would involve drilling around 260 new wells, in Tinsukia district alone. In other words, the very area where the disaster occurred.
Two expansion projects have already been cleared by the Union environment ministry in April and May. The company is seeking clearances for the remaining projects.
Significantly, the Union environment ministry itself paved the way for these clearances when it asked the state government in 2017 to reconsider the proposed boundaries of the eco-sensitive zone around the Dibru Saikhowa National Park. The park is one of the two ecologically fragile areas flanking the Baghjan oil field where the explosion occurred.
