Government of India- 373 views
Digboi - The Oil City of Assam
Digboi, a picturesque town in the district of Tinsukia in Assam, is known to have India’s oldest oilfield. Cherished for its rich cultural diversity, Digboi is surrounded by deep forests and lush green tea gardens. During the advent of the British in Assam, the larger region (of which present-day Digboi is a part) was known as Makum. The town of Digboi, historically significant for its role in World War II, also has a War Cemetery. Today, Digboi is globally renowned for a 100-year-old surviving oilfield and the world's oldest operating oil refinery. The Digboi Centenary Oil Museum, built on the periphery of the first oil well dug in 1890, is a testimony to the long history of the petroleum industry in Assam.
A significant consequence of the arrival of the British in Assam was the introduction of several industries in the region. The inception of the tea industry by the Bruce Brothers, during the mid-19th century, demanded adequate transportation facilities and led to the formation of the Assam Railways and Trading Company in 1881. One of the major undertakings of this company was to build a network of railways in the North-eastern part of Assam, a region full of natural resources like coalfields, tea gardens, and timber. The beginning of the oil industry in Assam is integrally linked to these developments.
In 1867, with the drilling of a well in the Makum region, the Britishers struck oil in Assam for the first time. However, it was not financially viable and immediately shut down. Yet, the path for the future had been laid and success wasn’t far away. There is a legend behind the invaluable discovery of an oilfield in Makum (later known as the Digboi oilfield). In the later part of the 19th century, a group of men were laying railway tracks for the Assam Railway and Trading Co. Ltd. in Makum, around 25 kilometres from the present-day town of Digboi. The team had to work in the dense forest, which was reportedly unmotorable. The company workers used elephants to carry wood and other essentials from the forest. It is said that one such elephant hauling logs returned with distinct traces of oil on its feet. Seeing the shiny residue, the owner of the elephant followed the trail into the forest and found evidence of oil bubbling on the surface of the soil.
In 1889, an engineer named Willie Leova Lake convinced the Assam Railways and Trading Company to initiate a project to drill a well in this region. Upon approval, work was started in the month of September, 1889. Lake arranged for all the necessary equipment and manpower at the site. His engineer's call to the workers, “Dig, boy, dig!”, prompted them to dig deeper until oil was struck at a depth of 178 feet on 19 October, 1889. The process of drilling continued till November 1890 when the proposed well (of a total depth of 662 feet) was completed. In 1901, the present-day Digboi Refinery was established, which signalled the advent of the oil industry in Assam in earnest.
In 1989, The Department of Post, Government of India, came out with stamps commemorating 100 years of the Digboi oilfield. It is believed that the call “Dig, boy, dig” later transformed into the name of the town Digboi.
Recognizing the ongoing need to position itself for the digital future, Indian Culture is an initiative by the Ministry of Culture. A platform that hosts data of cultural relevance from various repositories and institutions all over India.