ONGC shuts down some wells in Andhra after gas pipeline blast

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp has shut some wells on two onland gas fields in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh following the fire in a pipeline that carried the gas to consumers.

The fire was reported early Friday morning in the state gas utility pipeline that carries gas to Lanco’s Kondapalli power plant near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. At least 14 persons are reported to have been killed in the fire which followed a blast.

GAIL has shut the recently built 18-inch pipeline following the fire. “The pipeline carried gas from our fields to consumers. Naturally if the pipeline is not there we have to shut some wells,” ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Dinesh K Sarraf said.

Production will not be impacted much, he said. ONGC Director (Onshore) Ashok Varma said the fire occurred a few hundred metres from ONGC’s Tatipaka Refinery at Nagaram village in Amalapuram Mandal.

“Fields that fed gas into the pipeline will be impacted. Some wells are being shut,” he said, adding that gas supplies will be restored once the pipeline is repaired.

Supplies to the plant are being arranged through alternate lines.