Oil India Limited said Tuesday that the cumulative loss of crude oil and natural gas has been 25,624 MT and 61.62 million standard cubic metres (MMSCM) respectively at the Baghjan gas well in Assam’s Tinsukia district well mainly due to protests.

“As a result of protests/blockades/bandhs since 27th May, 2020 due to the blowout, OIL’s cumulative loss of crude oil and natural gas has been 25624 MT and 61.62 MMSCM respectively,” OIL said in a statement..

“Oil and gas Production still continues to be affected due to forceful closure of few oil and gas wells connected to Baghjan EPS. Drilling and workover operation also continue to be affected at few of the locations due to forceful closure of operation.”

The gas well suffered a blowout on May 27 and caught fire on June 9 which still continues to rage despite efforts to douse it. OIL said preparations are continuing to cap the well. A second attempt to cap the blowout and the fire failed on Monday due to technical glitches. OIL plans to make another bid on Tuesday.

“Following the snapping of one of the Bull Lines of the Athey wagon yesterday, the Bull Lines were removed and sent to OIL’s Engineering Workshop for repairing job. The Lines were repaired overnight and already transferred to the well site this morning. Load testing of the Bull Lines are planned today after rig up with the Athey wagon. Servicing and pressure testing of the BOP stack is also planned for today. All safety precautions are being maintained and are in place. All efforts are being taken to control the well at the earliest,” the statement said.

The blowout and the subsequent fire at the gas well have caused damages to nearby areas.

“Total number of families surveyed for assessment of damage for compensation till 10.08.2020 both combined in Doomdooma and Tinsukia Circle is 2,756,” OIL said.

Two OIL companies have died in the fire while three foreign experts suffered injuries in an explosion last month.

Oil India, the country’s second largest hydrocarbon exploration and production public sector company also said that environmental impact assessment (EIA) study on various parameters are being carried out by various agencies such as TERI, ERM, CSIR-NEIST, IIT-Guwahati apart from OIL’s in-house monitoring of air quality/noise level/gas presence. Bio remediation activities at affected areas are also in progress, it said.