Blowout in Mori-5 well a geological surprise, says ONGC official

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) National Crisis Management Team Head G. Srihari on Wednesday concluded that the Mori-5 blowout of natural gas was a “geological surprise.”

On January 5, the blowout of natural gas was reported in the Mori-5 well during the workover activity aimed at increasing the flow of natural gas at Irusumanda village.

Mr. Srihari, who had earlier served in the Krishna-Godavari Basin for 19 years, is heading the Mori blowout action plan, which includes containing the fire and capping, before “killing the well for further assessment” on the state of the natural gas reservoir.

Speaking to a section of the media on the sidelines of the blowout control exercise on the site, Mr. Srihari observed, “The well has pure natural gas and there is no deposit of oil. The blowout is absolutely a geological surprise, which happens due to the reservoir’s parameters.”

“The estimations of the natural gas reservoir and its flow may have been underestimated. However, there is no failure of the equipment installed in the well for the operations as found during the blowout action plan,” said Mr. Srihari.

On deployment of the U.S.-based Wild Well experts to cap the well, the ONGC Rajahmundry Asset authorities confirmed to The Hindu that a decision was yet to be taken on engaging the experts, who were kept ready.

The ONGC is in pact with the US-based agency, Wild Well, for well control operations. Vikram Saxena, Director (Technology & Field Services), ONGC, New Delhi, is also monitoring the execution of the blowout action plan.

‘Evacuees return’

In an official release, the ONGC claimed that the execution of the approved blowout control plan succeeded in reducing fire intensity and ambient heat in the vicinity of the well by Wednesday, and that systematic removal of debris was in progress.

In a joint press conference attended by Mr. Vikram Saxena in Amalapuram, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema District Collector R. Mahesh Kumar said that people evacuated from the three villages on January 5 returned to their habitations — Irusumanda, Gubbulavaripalem and Chintalapalli.