Blockade By Farmers Hits Ongc Output In Gujarat

Production of oil and gas from some of the oilfields of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at Gandhar village in neighbouring Broach district has come to a halt for the past two days as agitating farmers of nearby villages were obstructing movement of ONGC vehicles carrying essential inputs to these oilfields.

ONGC sources said the farmers had been demanding more price for land acquired by ONGC for exploration and drilling purposes. ONGC had already granted cent per cent hike in the prices of land being acquired by it. However, this has not satisfied the farmers, sources added.

After Ankleshwar oil field, Gandhar oil field is considered to be the best oil fields in the country discovered by ONGC.

 

If the situation continues, ONGC would have no option but to withdraw gas supply to Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Gujarat Refinery and other industrial giants located on the golden corridor between Vapi and Ahmedabad.

If the supply of gas to NTPCs gas based power stations at Kawas and Sinore is stopped, it could result in closure of both the power stations. Due to inadequate availability of gas, the stations were not been in a position to operate at their installed capacity.

This would further aggravate the critical power situation prevailing in the state and in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as they share the power generated by these stations, sources added.

Meanwhile, in a fax message to Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, district magistrate and other officials, ONGC said if this situation continues, we are afraid that operations will be severely affected and it will endanger our production, resulting in the stoppage of oil and gas supply to refinery and various industries.

This can cripple major industrial units using natural gas as fuel as there will be production shutdown which can cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs 120 crore every day, the sources said.

J K Agrawal, general manager, marketing, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) a govt of India undertaking, said the shutdown would have negative repercussion as the industries were dependent on ONGC for feeder stock in running the operations. GAIL has also written to the government and the industries to make alternative arrangements.

However, the Gujarat government has so far not taken any steps to resolve the issue, he said.