Buridihing River Fire: OIL forms Joint Team for observation

An incident of crude oil burning has taken place at theCentral Tank Farm (CTF) located in Oil India Limited (OIL)'s Field Headquartersin Duliajan on 28 January at around 10:30 AM. There was sudden closure ofremote operated shut off valves and motor operator valves of inlets and outletsof all the Crude Oil Storage Tanks.

Consequently, there was pressure build up in the incominglines to the tanks and it was observed that leaks developed at 5 points withinthe periphery of the CTF. Leaks also developed at two points in the incomingcrude oil delivery line of one of the field installation near Duliajan.Immediate action was taken up to rectify the leakages and restoration jobs wereundertaken. Actions were also initiated to recover and clean the spilled crudeoil in and around the affected site.

Reportedly, an inquiry committee has been set up to find out the underlying root causes of the incident and suggest remedial measures. Presently normal operations have resumed and all leakages have been rectified and crude oil is being received from installations at CTF, Duliajan.

It may be noted that the spilled crude oil at one of the incoming crude oil delivery lines which had ruptured due to the incident in CTF, somehow managed to trickle into the nearby Buridihing River. It appears that some miscreants set fire to the oil floating on the river. There have been no casualties and the situation is absolutely under control now.

A joint team led by Circle Officer of Tengakhat Circle, Dibrugarh district, State Pollution Control Board, fishery department and experts from OIL is accessing any possible damage to the environment and necessary actions will be initiated on the basis of the observations of this expert committee.