ONGC to restore 70% of lost output in fire

Oil and Natural Gas Corp would restore 70 per cent of the output lost in last month's devastating fire at the oil facility in the Mumbai High field tomorrow, company Chairman Subir Raha said.

Raha told the the parliamentary consultative committee last evening that oil production from the Mumbai High field would reach 210,000 barrels per day in a day or two.

Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said the field was producing 261,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 10.2 million standard cubic meters per day of gas before the july 27 fire on the mumbai high north platform that killed 11 people, with an equal number of people going missing.

Following the fire, the output fell to 145,000 barrels per day of oil and 6.1 mmsmcd of gas. "Now, with intensified efforts, ONGC expects to restore 60-70 per cent fo the lost production. The rest of the production may be resumed within a few weeks thereafter," he said.

ONGC officials said the Mumbai High field would start pumping the enhanced volumes from tomorrow morning once minor constructions were completed. By month end, gas production would reach 8.5 mmscmd.

The company hoped to reach normal production of oil and gas from the mumbai high fields, which contributes some 40 per cent of india's around 34 million tonnes of crude output, by next year.

MHN plaftorm was processing 38,000 barrels crude per day when it was gutted in a fire and the remaining of the lost ouptut was being processed at a neighbouring platform, NQO.

The NQO platform was being linked to the trunk pipeline that carried crude to the shores, the official said.

By September-end, ONGC hoped to reach up to 230,000 barrels per day of oil production from the Mumbai High field.

The official said ONGC was seeking to lease a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) systems to place temporarily till a new production platform was built to replace the one destroyed.

India has never had an FPSO in operation. Companies with an available fpso were requested to submit proposals to ONGC this week.

He said construction of a substitute complex would take some years, and in the interim ONGC wanted to resume production by placing a temporary FPSO on contract for two years with an option for one additional year.

The potential vessel would be placed in about 75 metres of water, and would be capable of processing between 10,000 and 15,000 barrels per day of oil, and between 1 million and 5 million cubic metres per day of gas.

It would receive liquids from several independent wellhead platforms. A manifold on the seabed may have to be provided to combine the inlet flow.