Assam gas well blowout puts biodiversity at risk

Baghjan, where the gas well blowout occurred on May 27 is close to the Dibru Saikhowa National Park, the Maguri-Motapung wetlands, and the forest villages of Barekuri which are habitat to the hoolock gibbon.

The blowout of an Oil India Limited (OIL) gas well in Assam’s Tinsukia district last week is causing extensive damage to biodiversity and wildlife the region -- including the endangered hoolock gibbons and Gangetic dolphins -- according to several residents, activists and experts.

Uncontrollable gas flow is continuing from the gas well, according a press statement issued by Oil India Limited on Monday.(AFP Photo)

Baghjan, where the gas well blowout occurred on May 27 is close to the Dibru Saikhowa National Park, the Maguri-Motapung wetlands, and the forest villages of Barekuri which are habitat to the hoolock gibbon.

Uncontrollable gas flow is continuing from the gas well, according a press statement issued by Oil India Limited on Monday.

“What we are seeing is complete horror. Condensed oil is leaking continuously. The Maguri-Motapung wetlands (an important bird and biodiversity area) is very badly affected. There is a thick layer of crude oil on the water. Fish are dying and some cattle that graze in the adjacent wetlands are also dead,” said Mridupaban Phukon, a student and wildlife activist.

“We have been informed by people in Barekuri villages that condensed oil is coating leaves and has started affecting the hoolock gibbon habitat. If not contained immediately the wetlands and national park will be devastated,” he said over phone.

Around 650 families have been evacuated from the affected areas and continue camped in three relief camps.

“I visited the area on Sunday but it was barricaded. I could see the damage everywhere. Dead fish were floating and the vegetation is brown now. One Gangetic dolphin died soon after the leak. Usually the Maguri bheel is rich with birdlife, I could hardly spot any birds that day. I appeal for immediate help,” said Nabamita Ray, doctor and wildlife enthusiast.

AM Singh, principal chief conservator of forests, Assam and spokesperson of environment ministry said that a team of forest officials, pollution control board members and OIL officials will submit a report on Wednesday while another committee which also has independent members from IIT Guwahati are assessing damage in the national park.

Oil India’s crisis management team (CMT) members have started pumping water through the casing valve. “Water is being pumped continuously through the valve into the well head. Oil India has also contacted global experts to control the blowout,” the press statement cited above said, adding that the water pumps are being installed in the nearby river (source of water) and pipeline-laying work is in progress.

Officials said that an additional plot of land adjacent to the well site has also been arranged to create a big reservoir of water and to place the well control equipment in it.

A blowout is the uncontrolled release of crude oil or natural gas from an oil well or gas well after pressure control systems have failed. According to Oil India, the blowout happened on May 27 while operations were going to produce gas from a new sand (oil and gas-bearing reservoir) at a depth of 3,279 metres. The well was until then producing around 100,000 standard cubic metres a day of gas.

Assam Chief Wildlife Warden and additional principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) MK Yadava said an assessment is underway to measure the damage to the ecology and animal and bird species in the area because of the blowout. He added that the carcass of a Gangetic dolphin found at Maguri beel has been sent for forensic examination.

“In the two days after the accident, the condense oil had only spread up to 500 metres but now it has spread in 1.5km radius as per our observations. Oil India is saying it may take another week. Who will compensate for this damage?” asked Hemanta Moran, Principal, Jatiya Vidyalaya Baghjan.

According to a 2013 site inspection report regarding oil and gas pipelines in Upper Assam by conservation scientists and former members of National Board for Wildlife, MD Madhusudan and Prerna Singh Bindra, the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Biosphere Reserve meet at the confluence of the Brahmaputra with three of India’s easternmost rivers—the Siang, Dibang and Lohit rivers. The park shaped by the these rivers is spread over 765 sq-km, of which 340 sq-km form the core and is a complex of wetlands, alluvial grasslands, riverine forests, swamps and semi-evergreen forests, including the largest willow swamp forest in north-east India.

Dibru-Saikhowa has recorded over 40 mammals, 500 species of birds, 104 fish species, 105 butterfly species and 680 types of plants. It harbours tigers, elephants, wild buffalos, leopards, hoolock gibbons, capped langurs, slow lorises, Gangetic dolphins, besides critically endangered bird species such as the Bengal florican, white-winged duck, greater adjutant stork, white-rumped vulture, slender-billed vulture, and the very rare and endemic black-breasted parrotbill.

Meanwhile, an OIL advertisement last month said the union environment ministry has accorded environmental clearance on May 11 for extension drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at 7 locations under Dibru Saikhowa National Park. HT verified documents on environment ministry’s Parivesh website which also states that the clearance was accorded.

“The continued oil leakage from the blow it is a horrific environmental crime. It has caused the death of the endangered Gangetic dolphin and thousands of fish, laying wetlands and fields waste, it is endangering the rare hoolock gibbons. Unfortunately, this is not the first time there has been such a leakage or environmental norms have been flouted –indeed part of the pipeline in the eco-sensitive zone of the Dibru-Saikhowa National park had been laid before mandatory environment approvals were given. Dibru-Saikhowa and its surrounding landscape has immense ecological values, and allowing drilling inside a national park is against the spirit and letter of the law, besides violating our basic constitutional principles of protecting environment,” said Bindra, who visited the site as a National Board for Wildlife member.