Andhra: Gas leak in ONGC pipeline, 2nd incident in less than a month

Turpupalem: Less than a month after a massive ONGC gas well fire disaster struck Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district, a gas pipeline belonging to the Maharatna public sector company has suffered a leak, which, however, was brought under control, an official said on Monday.

The pipeline at Turpupalem village in Kesanapalli 1 cluster suffered a leak when a workover rig was being shifted from Kesanapalli -1 cluster to Kesanapalli – 48 cluster on Sunday, the official added.

“During the transportation, one flow line, a small fitting, got damaged. So the leakage happened,” ONGC Asset Support Manager KVK Raju told PTI, adding that the line was under pressurised conditions.

However, he noted that the leakage was controlled within an hour and the situation returned to normal, observing that the volume of gas leakage was not much, estimating it to be about 500 cubic metres.

As part of efforts to control the leakage, he said the affected pipeline was isolated along with the well head, followed by depressurising it and replacing the valve immediately to achieve normal flow.

Noting that the leakage had occurred while transporting the rig, Raju said once work at a particular well is completed, after 10 days or 15 days, they shift the rig to another location.

During transportation, rig equipment is shifted through trailers, he said, observing that the trailer could have touched the pipeline, leading to the leakage.

“They have immediately attended, competent people (were) at the site installation… they have isolated the line immediately, the line got depressurised, they have replaced the damaged portion and fitted a new valve to the pipeline,” he said.