Oil India near 'blow-out' at Chabua
Oil India narrowly avoided a ‘blow-out’ on January 23 at development well Chabua 19 at its Chabua field in upper Assam.
Oil India had just pulled the drill-string out of the well when there was a 'kick' and high pressure pushed oil into the wellbore. Chabua 19 lies at the HUP location in the south western part of the Chabua structure.
“Well logging is suspended for now,” says a company source. “We're trying to study the structure.
” Oil India drilled the well to a depth of 3580 metres after spudding it on October 15 using its own Indian-built 1400-hp rig E-1400. “We suspect the well is connected to the Dikom field,” we hear.
On September 13, 2005, a blow-out occurred at 10 year old well Dikom-15 producing 251 b/d (40-kl/day) of oil. Fire broke out at the site after the blow-out and Oil India had to ask ONGC and US-based pressure control experts Boots & Coots to come to its rescue.
The well was finally ‘shut-in’ on October 5, 2005.