Mumbai High fire probe

An enquiry committee headed by former Petroleum Secretary TNR Rao will probe the July 27 fire accident at Mumbai High North processing platform of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

The committee will also recommend measures for improving safety at the platform. It will submit its report to the government within six months.

Meanwhile, ONGC has secured its insurance claim, amounting to Rs 761.6 crore, for Bombay High North (BHN) platform.

United India Insurance has settled ONGC's full demand quickly, as the underwriters were convinced of the case, said a company release.

The amount covers only the BHN platform. The insurance claim for ONGC's offshore vessel, Samudra Suraksha, is under process. and a decision is expected soon.

ONGC's production from Mumbai High, the offshore area which housed the BHN platform, has now recovered to 220,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) after it dipped to 145,000 BOPD from 2,65,000 BOPD following the accident.

The PSU's gas sales, which went down to 6 million metric standard cubic metre a day (MMSCMD) from 9.5 MMSCMD, has also recovered to 10.2 MMSCMD.

Director (offshore) of ONGC NK Mitra said ONGC is going to hire a floating production system (FPSO) to further augment production from this oil field.

The platform was insured for $195 million and the MSV for $60 million under ONGC's offshore package insurance policy.