ONGC floats tender for hiring ships

The Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), India's largest oil explorer, has floated a "limited tender" for hiring at least 10 ships to continue with uninterrupted oil production from India's largest oil fields, Bombay High, thus highlighting the crisis shipping industry is facing.

The move came after the shipping regulator, the Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping), recalled 27 of its offshore supply vessels termed as 'lifeline' from the oil fields citing safety reasons.

"We have started the process of inviting tenders for the ships because we do not want any disruption in oil production," a senior ONGC official said today.

The ONGC's short term tender is for sourcing seven Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessels (AHTSVs) that facilitates anchor handling to position the rig and three supply boats.

These ships would help ONGC to continue its drilling activities on its offshore oil fields, situated 160 km North West off the Mumbai coast.

The tender follows the DG Shipping's strict action against the ONGC after one of its OSV "Samudrika-10", sank in the Bombay High area, killing five people on board. The ill-fated vessel was manned by Sical Logistics which is also facing DG Shipping action for deploying non-seaworthy ships.

Asked about the shortage of OSVs, Indian National Shipowners' Association (INSA) President Yudhishthir Khatau said: "We are committed to support ONGC for its exploration and production activities by offering ships. To add, ONGC should also give Indian shipowners adequate lead time when they demand for high specification ships, given the acute shortage of vessels."

A leading shipping company executive said the company has started floating enquiries in the international market to source more vessels.

"Ironically, the international market is also facing severe shortage of vessels. We are also exploring joint venture possibilities with foreign partners to get more vessels," he said.