Itanagar, July 2: A pipeline burst has sent officials scrambling to control a methane gas leak near Kharsang in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon around 2.30pm when the pipe at well number 60 burst during a "work over", Kharsang circle officer N.L. Naam said.

A "work over" is a term used to refer to any kind of oil well intervention involving invasive techniques. The "blowout" happened at the Kharsang oilfield located around 6km from Kharsang town.

Naam said efforts were on to control the leak with several experts from Sivasagar, Digboi and Duliajan from neighbouring Assam currently present in the area.

The administration has sounded an alert telling people of the surrounding villages to be cautious while lighting fire or drinking water. Naam, however, said the air quality was monitored today and there were no signs of danger.

A plan to address the issue has already been chalked out and work to control the leak will begin in a day or two. Naam said officials of the oilfield hoped to control the leak by July 6.

The oilfield is located around 50km from the Digboi refinery in Assam and has 70 wells.

The field is operated by GeoEnpro Petroleum Ltd and is a joint venture consortium comprising Oil India Ltd, Jubilant Energy (Kharsang) Pvt Ltd, Geopetrol International Inc and GeoEnpro.

The circle officer said the company had also enlisted help of an US firm to expedite repairs.

There are three villages located near the oilfield none of which has reported any casualties.

No one was hurt during the pipe "blowout", Naam said.