Rudrasagar Blowout: ONGC’s Disaster Response is a Disaster

When Mrinali woke up in the morning, she could feel her eyes burning. Her children were also having trouble breathing. Going out to the animal farm, she saw these monstrous vehicles, the kind she has never seen before, ply through the road in front of her house. Before she could get her wits together, officials whisked her and her family away to a relief camp.

Mrinali is among several hundred others who has faced the same fate since the high-pressure blowout occurred on June 12, 2025 at Well No. RDS-147 (Rig SKP-135) during a zone transfer operation in Oil & Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) Rudrasagar Oilfield, located at Bhatiapar–Barichuk in Sivasagar, Assam. The blowout led to an uncontrolled release of natural gas and crude oil, lasting even now, raising serious fire, explosion, and health risks. The author’s native place is within two kilometres from the location and I could very well appreciate and share the trauma of the people there.

On its part, the ONGC has tried several steps to control the blowout by deploying Plans A, B and now Plan C. These include Junk shot mud injection, round-the-clock Water-blanketing, Gas redirection and Pressure relief systems, etc. After two failed containment plans (Plan A & B), ONGC initiated Plan C (permanent capping) with assistance from Cudd Well Control, a U.S.-based expert team, finally leading to a complete sealing of the well.

This disaster brings back stark memories of another cataclysm of 2020 Baghjan Oil India fire. Incidentally, I was serving as the Director General of Police, Assam. Unlike the Rudrasagar incident though, the Baghjan incident led to a fire which raged for 173 days, resulting in three deaths and over 10,000 citizens internally displaced. The area, once a stronghold of Ulfa militants, needed extremely careful handling. To the credit of OIL, administration of a fair compensation helped prevent a social conflict.  However, the incidents when looked at in conjunction, highlights some systemic parallels, reaffirming that as an industry, the hydrocarbon giants of our nation have not learnt its lessons quick enough and may have some policy incentives in not doing so as well. Let’s explore some of these here.

The ageing infrastructure and the inadequate maintenance of these mature oilfields (both Rudrasagar & Baghjan are of reasonable vintage) is a key factor to these incidents. While CAPEX expenditures of ONGC have gone up, data on fund allocation of this in upgradation of ageing facilities is not available. Disturbingly enough, analysis of the financial outlay of ONGC demonstrates a downward trend in maintenance expenditure as a percentage of total CAPEX since 2019.

Also Read: Emergency Landing Strips in Assam: A Strategic Security Enhancement

Another factor in Rudrasagar blowout is the oversight, or the lack thereof, on contractors. SK Petro Services in Rudrasagar is the contractor involved in the well operations. The lack of thorough audit both in terms of capability as well as on-ground delivery, has been a point of concern. While sub-contracting to local contractors is a necessary and positive step, the oil majors have not invested adequately to build up local capacity through positive skill gap mapping and augmentation of local expertise. The oversight on contractors is now under the scanner with the Ministry of Petroleum already announcing a probe on subcontractor protocols.

The safety protocols as well as the on-ground preparedness of the Maharatna oil companies have long been found wanting. With such levels of focus on crisis prevention, the recurrence of these catastrophe is hardly a surprise. To top it up, the involvement of senior leadership as well as safety and crisis management professionals in the Rudrasagar blowout was a lacuna so stark that the Chief Minister of Assam had to highlight this in his letter to the Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri. Infact initiatives like instant payment to the affected families, great care and monitoring to prevent large scale fire, temporary camp administration etc came from the state leadership and ONGC has been blamed to be more of a bystander when the crisis occurred.

The total disregard to laid down protocols and regulations, leading to damage to the flora, fauna, economy as well as public health, is almost appalling at times. The Assam Pollution Board stepped in, post facto, has issued show-cause notice to ONGC post the Rudrasagar blowout for operating Well No. 147 without the necessary environmental permits, specifically the Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO). However, a more proactive action on part of the Board was desired.

From a regulatory perspective, while the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 2025 has increased the quantum of penalties and fines on the offender and also imposed additional cost on history sheeters, the decriminalisation of violations of the rules under the act and replacing imprisonment with penalties would further reduce the deterrence effect of the law. The cash rich corporations would not feel any pinch in their balance sheets with a few crores of fines or rehabilitation packages for the local populace. Another important factor in this regard is the mandate of the Director General of Hydrocarbons. With a multi-pronged area of responsibility, including safety, environment, technology and economics, it won’t be hazardous to guess that the primary focus of the Director General will be on economics, despite the best intentions of the officer.

Unless we train sights on the above and assess our current state and compare it with desired results, it is almost certain that such unfortunate incidents would not be a thing of past alone. A bias towards safety, thorough oversight on contractors, focused due diligence both administrative and operational as well as investment towards maintenance and upgradation of aging assets are critical areas that our hydrocarbon majors need to divert their attentions to. Another critical gap that needs addressing is development of local expertise both in terms of well operation as well as disaster management is critical. As in the case of Baghjan, similarly in Rudrasagar, we had to depend on foreign expertise to handle the crisis. After 78 years of Independence, this is an area where India needs to develop competence and be atmanirbhar as desired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister himself. This is especially important from the perspective of India’s Northeast where hydrocarbon has been the source of both economic progress and social unrest.
 

The author is a former DGP of Assam and now General Secretary of SHARE, a think tank