BG to resume production from Panna-Mukta fields this week

After an over three-month-long shutdown, BG Group of the UK is likely to resume production of oil and gas from the offshore Panna-Mukta fields this week.

"The field was to restart operations on October 22, but last minute glitches put it off by a few days. Production will resume in the next one or two days," an official in the BG-led joint venture consortium operating the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields, off the Mumbai Coast, said.

Before the shutdown on July 20, the field daily produced 35,000 barrels of oil and 6.16 million standard cubic metres of gas per day. The Tapti field, however, continues to produce 7 million standard cubic metres of gas per day, he said.

BG shut down production from the Panna-Mukta fields on July 20 following an oil leakage from the Panna single buoy mooring. Subsequently, it found that five of the seven portions of subsea hose were broken.

"We could not do repair work earlier because of the monsoon in the Arabian Sea. The repairs have now been completed," the official said.

BG Group and Reliance Industries each hold a 30 per cent stake in the Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields, off the West Coast, while the remaining 40 per cent lies with Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC).

"We lost almost Rs 3 crore per day because of the shutdown," the official said, adding that gas output from the Tapti field was at normal.

The shutdown forced the import of at least four cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the spot market to make up for the shortfall.

The shutdown affected operations at power and fertiliser plants in the western region, as well as city gas distribution projects.

In July last year, the Panna-Mukta field was shut down for two weeks following a leakage in underwater pipelines.