Report from Northeast Today

The world’s largest Civilian transport aircraft ANTONOV (AN124) which has been commissioned for snubbing operation in Baghjan-well number 5 landed at Kolkata airport on Wednesday night from where it will make a 14- day long road journey to reach Baghjan in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

Reportedly, as both the Guwahati and Dibrugarh airport runways are not able to handle the massive Ukrainian ANTONOV (AN124) aircraft, it had to be landed in Kolkata.

As per reports, the 59,000 kgs equipment boarded the An124 heavy-lift aircraft – the world’s largest cargo carrier from Russia. The aircraft is used all over the world for its long haul cargo dropping.

According to the OIL sources, the aircraft was commissioned by Piston Well Service Inc of Canada which was hired by Alert Disaster Control, Singapore. The Alert has been commissioned by OIL for killing the Baghjan-5 well, which was burning since May 27 of this year.

According to the spokesperson of Oil India Limited (OIL) Tridiv Hazarika, the snubbing operation is expected to commence by the beginning of next week and the fire is expected to be snubbed by the first week of November ending months of misery of the people of Baghja

Earlier, the general manager of the company Ross Whelan informed the same through a facebook post saying that a crew had arrived and was ready to board a heavy-lift aircraft from Canada’s Calgary.

“Our crew has arrived, and 59,000kg of our equipment boarded the An124 heavy-lift aircraft in Calgary today,” he said.

On May 27 this year, a blowout occurred in the Baghjan Oil Well, this was followed by an inferno on June 9, after the well suddenly became active while OIL was carrying out workover operations in the gas-producing well under Baghjan Oilfield. OIL lost three men including two firefighters and a young engineer.

Read the whole story including photos of the Antonov at this link

Tinsukia: An aerial view of the Baghjan oil field engulfed in fire, in Tisukia, Assam, Tuesday, June 9, 2020. The field has been leaking gas for the past two weeks. (PTI Photo) (PTI10-06-2020_000035B)

From Ross Whelan, GM of Piston Well Services Inc. in Red Deer.

Piston Well Services Inc. of Alberta is proud to announce the award of a contract to conduct emergency snubbing services for Alert Disaster Control of Singapore on the Baghjan Well #5 blowout in Assam, India.  The scope of work includes mobilizing a crew and snubbing unit with support equipment to facilitate killing, plugging and abandoning the well which blew out on May 27, 2020 and exploded in a remote wetland causing a major human and ecological disaster.

The well is currently capped, and uncontrolled flow is temporarily diverted as wellhead integrity issues caused by the blowout and subsequent fire are preventing the use of traditional well shut-in and kill methods.  A proposed snubbing procedure was confirmed with computer modeling and ordered by the well owner.

Piston’s team engaged to overcome a litany of logistical issues but it’s an honour to deploy our Canadian know-how to bring an unfortunate event to a safe conclusion.

Piston is a snubbing, completions & workover company based in Red Deer, AB, established in 1999 by the industry’s pioneers and continues to serve the Western Canadian Basin with a fleet of proprietary high pressure snubbing units.

Here’s a time-lapse from Piston Well Services Inc. showing the process of loading Rig 6.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting one new case of COVID-19, bringing the province’s number of active cases to nine.

In a release sent Thursday, public health officials say the new case is a man between 20 and 39 years old who returned to the province from work in Alberta.

A spokeswoman from the department could not confirm if the man is a rotational worker, which the department defines as a resident of the province who travels regularly back and forth from another part of the country for work.

Officials say the man is self-isolating and contact tracing is underway.

In early September, isolation requirements were relaxed for rotational workers returning from outside Atlantic Canada and they can now arrange for a COVID-19 test on Day 5 of their isolation and, if the test is negative, end the isolation on Day 7.

In a press conference Wednesday, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said any further relaxation of isolation requirements for rotational workers will be decided by the results of that pilot project.

Newfoundland and Labrador has now had 288 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including four deaths.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2020.

The Canadian Press