ONGC N-E output down 23% on staff shortage

Manpower shortage in Assam has resulted in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) production from the rich fields in the Northeast depleting by 23.12 per cent over the last five years.

"Maintaining high production in Assam is beginning to be a big worry for us, as no one wants to work in the area. Continuous threats from insurgents forces qualified technicians to leave Assam after only two years of service on average," said an ONGC official.

ONGC, the country's largest producer of oil and gas, produced 1.73 million tonnes (mt) of oil in Assam in 2002-03, which dropped to 1.33 mt in 2006-07. The company's overall crude production in 2002-03 was 26 mt, which rose marginally to 26.05 mt in 2006-07.

Significantly, the share of production from Assam in the company's overall output dropped to 5.10 per cent in 2006-07, from 6.65 per cent in 2002-03.

Although attrition rate in Assam was lower than the country average, high-level engineers were not willing to work in the area, the ONGC official added.

"This drop in production is despite our frequent discoveries of oil and gas in the state," he said. In May 2007, ONGC made a significant oil discovery in Assam's Sibsagar district. The discovery in the Disangmukh-3 well in the area is flowing oil at the highest rate among all of the company's onshore fields.

Another company active in the area, Oil India Ltd, the second largest government-owned oil and gas producer in the country, has all its producing assets in the Northeast, primarily in Assam.

The firm's oil output from Assam has increased by 5.1 per cent to 3.10 mt in 2006-07, from 2.95 mt in 2002-03.

"It has been lucky as its production technicians have no other place to work except in Assam. However, as our producing assets are spread across the country, our production engineers are always on the lookout for postings in the mainland," the ONGC official said.