ONGC officials said that there was no loss to life, and didn't expect that the fire would spread to any other field, oil or gas, in the area. Till late in the evening, though, their major concern was to ensure that the fire did not engulf the main platform and the rig, Sagar Ratna. In that event, the loss could run into a few hundred crore.

ONGC chief B.C. Bora is leaving for Mumbai tomorrow, and the insurance companies have been informed of the fire already. ``So far, fortunately, the wind is blowing away from the rig'', said an ONGC official who flew to the site following the fire.The fire itself is around 3 to 4 meters high, and a gushing sound of a gas leak can be heard. ``The sound shows that the quantity is significant,'' said the official. While it is too early to hazard a guess as to how long the fire will last, ONGC personnel said that they did not expect too much structural damage to the gas fields since the wells in question were old ones, with lower pressure.

The presence of the fire, though, has made it impossible for them to actually ascertain the damage to the well structure itself. ONGC's initial task will be to control the fire, and only after this is quelled, can an attempt be made to cap the leakage from the wells. While the actual fire began yesterday, there have been danger signals from this cluster of wells for close to three weeks. First, the rig Sagar Ratna was deployed on February 17 to begin `workover' on B-121 B, at which time it was found that there was some leakage of gas from B-121 F also, but this was controlled.

Work on B-121 B was completed on themorning of the 10th, but pressures within the well shot up dramatically during the day. By the night, they had come down to manageable levels, but those in B-121 F then began shooting up. A leakage of gas was detected in B-121 D -- when some foam started shooting up from it.

Immediately, all four wells were closed -- two wells, A and E, are not being used currently of the six in the cluster -- and all 80 personnel evacuated from the platform. The `workover' rig was also withdrawn successfully yesterday, but is still just a few meters away from the fire.

The wells currently produce roughly 2 million cubic meters of gas daily. At market prices, that's worth Rs 33 lakh. If all goes well, it is expected that ONGC will take around three to four weeks before it is able to resume production from these wells.