The Pasarlapudi blowout was an oil rig blowout that took place on 6.50 pm, 8 January 1995 in

Pasarlapudi Pasarlapudi is the river delta of the Godavari River at the Bay of Bengal in southeastern India. It is located in the Konaseema district of Andhra Pradesh state, in the South India Region. The Pasarlapudi village is known for its scenic veget ...

, near Amalapuram in the East Godavari district of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, India. It was the largest blowout ever recorded in the history of the India's oil and natural gas exploration with a fire that engulfed drilling site number 19, rig number E 1400-18GF. The fire continued for 65 days. Initially Neil Adams Fire Fighters(NAF, Houston) was hired to bring fire under control. After ONGC disagreed with their strategy NAF left and it was finally brought under control on 15 March 1995 by International Well Control. The blowout did not cause any casualties, but the drilling rig was destroyed. Damages to the drilling rig were estimated at Rs 9.2 crore crore as well as about Rs 7 crore of damage to equipment at the well site area.

Evacuation

7 villages within the 2 kilometers radius of the rig, approximately 1,500 people were evacuated immediately by APSRTC buses. More people fled in panic from the nearby villages.

References

{{reflist 1995 in the environment History of Andhra Pradesh (1947–2014) Disasters in Andhra Pradesh Explosions in India East Godavari district 1995 industrial disasters Environmental disasters in India Oil and Natural Gas Corporation January 1995 events in Asia

Evacuation

See also

References