Expressing concern over the recent crude oil well gas leakage in Sivasagar, a northeast India-based forum of graduate engineers has urged both Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) to clarify the status of so-called ‘abandoned’ gas wells.

These wells, they warned, pose serious risks to human life, property, and the environment, especially as the private parties operating them often do not step forward to accept responsibility.

In a statement, the All Assam Engineers' Association (AAEA) also appealed to the Union government to hold the relevant ONGC and OIL officials accountable for any disaster at an oil or gas well that has been declared ‘dried up’.

“It is feared that some corrupt ONGC and OIL officials declare certain oil or gas wells as ‘old’ so that private parties can step in, seize the opportunity to drill, and extract benefits — with a secret understanding to share these benefits with the corrupt officials of these state-sponsored organisations. Is there any mechanism to monitor the concerned officials after they declare a productive oil or gas well as ‘dry’, thereby enabling private parties to extract oil or gas in return for personal gain?” questioned AAEA president Er Kailash Sarma, working president Er Nava J Thakuria, and secretary Er Inamul Hye.

The incidents at Bhatiapar-Bari Chuk (Sivasagar) and the 2020 Baghjan (Tinsukia) OIL well blowout tell a similar story.

In both cases, private parties were operating wells that were assumed to have insufficient oil or gas reserves, and accidents followed.

This indicates that no lessons have been learnt on how to prevent such practices.

Shockingly, India as a nation still does not have an efficient response team to handle disasters of this magnitude, meaning expert teams from countries such as Canada or the USA must be urgently brought in to manage the situation, the AAEA statement added.

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