Assam: Fire breaks out near oil wells at Numaligarh Refinery

A massive fire broke out late Monday night at the Numaligarh oil refinery in Assam, near a critical infrastructure near the oil wells.

“On May 29, 2023, at approximately 19:20 hours, a fire broke out at the Numaligarh Refinery Limited’s Hydrocracker Unit (HCU) in vessel Number VV-04.” “The vessel is a cold high-pressure separator,” Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) said around midnight on Monday in a statement. The NRL is a subsidiary of Oil India Ltd, a state-owned oil company.

Oil, water, and gas are separated from the initial well stream using high-pressure separators. They are installed in either an onshore or offshore processing station.
“Within 20 minutes of [the] breakout, the fire was brought under control.” “However, as per firefighting protocol, cooling through water spraying continues,” NRL stated.

As a precautionary measure, the nearby hydrogen unit was shut down.
According to Oil India sources, there were no casualties or injuries in the incident; however, the extent of the damage has yet to be determined.

According to the sources, an external committee is being formed to investigate the cause of the fire and assess the damage. The refinery, which is located in Morangi in the Golaghat district of Assam, began commercial production in 1999.

NRL has embarked on a major integrated refinery expansion project to triple its capacity to 9 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) at a cost of more than Rs 28,000 crore, one of the highest in the region. The project also includes the construction of a crude oil import terminal.