Guwahati, March 29: A parliamentary committee that examined the safety and security of oil installations of public sector oil companies with specific reference to the Baghjan blowout in Upper Assam has asked the petroleum and natural gas ministry to periodically review the safety measures and update the safety framework of the petroleum sector of the country.
In its 19th report, presented in Parliament recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, recommended the ministry, Oil India Limited (OIL) and safety agencies “to put up framework and protocol of accountability to foster and promote a strong safety culture among their officials and employees and of their contractors followed by strict enforcement and encourage them in adhering to the same.”
The committee recommended that the ministry should conduct a comprehensive area survey of the North-Eastern Region and map all the oil and gas fields/installations /units, etc, and also the nearest road/rail/airport infrastructure available for handling disaster management and strengthen the aviation/rail and road infrastructure in the region.
Besides, the committee recommended that the ministry/directorate general of hydrocarbons and the safety agencies such as the Oil Industry Safety Directorate/Directorate General of Mines Safety to review the existing structure and implement a mechanism by which the safety functions are headed by officials from other PSUs to ensure reasonable autonomy to the safety functionaries and help in developing a strong safety culture in the organisation.
Stressing on the need for review of the standard operating procedures, the committee recommended the ministry to develop a review system pertaining to safety audit observations and their compliance by all the PSUs (public sector undertakings) concerned in the Safety Council meeting annually.
A major well blowout took place on May 27, 2020, at OIL’s Baghjan oil well-5 in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district, releasing high-pressure natural gas.
The leaking well subsequently caught fire on June 9 2020, and resulted in three deaths (according to official reports), large-scale local evacuation, and environmental damage to the nearby Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Maguri-Motapung Wetland.
Calling for strict action against the contractor engaged, the committee asked OIL to take appropriate action against M/s JEL (the contractor) under the provisions of the contract to make it liable for the expenses incurred by OIL in the entire incident.
The committee recommended the ministry to take up with all the PSUs and review the compliance of all applicable environmental laws in the oil and gas fields that are currently in operation.
The committee also recommended that the ministry should review the deficiencies and gaps in the safety systems required to fight safety-related incidents and take necessary action to create infrastructure and skill sets to deal with them in future.
Besides, the committee called for an upgrade of OIL’s well training schools by equipping them with dedicated faculty and infrastructure and to undertake the advance training in well intervention for its remaining key employees associated with work-over operations/production engineers.
Lastly, the committee recommended that the ministry should take necessary action for setting up an emergency response centre in Guwahati at the earliest.