Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan visited the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) installations in the Mumbai High Western Offshore to have an overall understanding of the offshore drilling operations.
The minister was accompanied by Joint Secretary (Exploration) U.P Singh, CMD of ONGC Dinesh K. Sarraf, Director-Offshore T.K. Sengupta and Director (Exploration) A. K. Dwivedi.
Pradhan visited the Rig-Virtue 1 to have an understanding about the complex nature of offshore drilling operations. The chartered-hire Rig has been deployed in the Mumbai High North field and is attached to the WO-16 Platform. So far, it has drilled 31 development and two sidetrack wells besides completing one work-over (maintenance of well) operation.
The Minister later visited the FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) unit deployed at Cluster-7 field of the Mumbai High Asset, which has recently been brought under production. He also dedicated the state-of-the-art FPSO to the nation. From the Cluster-7 field, about 15,000 barrels of oil per day is currently being produced.
Pradhan also showed keen interest in the various kinds of complex activities that the offshore installations undertake for production of crude oil from the subsurface
"We need to think innovatively with a positive note in order to scale newer heights as far as production is concerned," Pradhan said during the visit.
The minister also interacted with ONGC workers on the platforms and rigs, especially the young officers, and appreciated their commitment and work for the energy security of India.
