The Hindu Business Line : No threat to energy security, says Aiyar

THE impact on the country's oil supply from Wednesday's accident at Mumbai High can be contained. The Union Minister for Petroleum, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, today said: "Our energy security is in no way compromised." Any fresh oil import needed would be of small volume.

ONGC is taking remedial measures to restore up to 70 per cent of the production loss caused by the fire at Bombay High North (BHN), in four weeks time. The BHN platform has sunk into the sea. Loss of crude oil production has been pegged at 1,10,000 barrels a day. ONGC plans to recover part of this "by diverting the production through alternative routes," said Mr Subir Raha, Chairman and Managing Director.

"We have a sub-sea oil and gas pipeline network of almost 4,200 km, including 504 km of oil and gas trunk line, which was completed before the monsoon," he added.

"Our engineers and production managers have been examining various options. They have already come up with certain solutions, which we have reviewed and approved. That should get us back most of the production."

Both Mr Aiyar and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, conducted an aerial survey of the accident site.

A committee headed by Mr S.K. Manglik, former ONGC Chairman, with Mr H.S. Cheema, former Chairman & Managing Director of GAIL (India), and Mr Ishwari Dutt, former Director (Technical), ONGC, as members and assisted by specialists in incident investigation from Royal Dutch Shell, will inquire into the BHN mishap. Its report would be tabled within three months.

The accident had involved three oil facilities - the multi-support vessel (MSV) called Samudra Suraksha (owned by ONGC but operated by Shipping Corporation of India), BHN, and the private drilling rig, Noble Charlie Yester, the latter linked by a bridge to the process platform.

Amid rough weather at sea, the MSV, which was engaged in a medical evacuation to hospital facilities on the platform, rammed into BHN causing an explosion.

In the ensuing fire, the MSV was damaged beyond service and BHN sank "in less than two hours." The rig, to which many on the platform ran, is safe.

Of the 384 people believed present at the accident site, 355 have survived, including three picked up from a raft 20 km off BHN.

Ten people - six from ONGC, one each from SCI and Noble Charlie and two unidentified - died. Thirteen people are missing. Additionally, six divers in the decompression chamber of the MSV remain trapped.

Efforts are on to transfer the chamber to an identical MSV. The divers run the risk of death if forced out of their gradual decompression.

By evening four ships carrying survivors and some of the deceased had reached Victoria Docks. Mr Raha said that an important point in the inquiry would be why the MSV's dynamic positioning system had failed, along with backup.

MSVs are sophisticated vessels capable of holding their position in choppy waters.

With BHN below the water, divers and remote controlled machines would be needed to study the structure for accident investigation.

No official estimate of the loss stemming from the accident was available.

Mr Raha said that ONGC's priorities in the wake of the accident had been to save life, prevent oil spillage, and restore production; other issues would be taken up subsequently.

The BHN platform had an insurance cover of $195 million and the damaged MSV, of $60 million.

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