The Hindu Business Line : ONGC gas output, Hazira supplies suffer for second day

For the second day today, ONGC's natural gas production from Mumbai offshore and supplies from its Hazira gas processing complex continued to be disrupted due to floods in Gujarat.

Mr R.S. Sharma, Chairman, ONGC, told Business Line that all efforts are being made to restore normalcy in the shortest possible time and the plant would restart after the water recedes.

"We are trying to restart as quickly as possible once the water recedes. Once the water recedes it is possible to restart supplies in phases. Operational teams of ONGC are all geared up to begin restoration and start-up production."

Loss to Hazira complex

The Hazira gas complex feeds a large number of fertiliser and power plants in north India, and their operations have been hit by the disruption, which began on Tuesday morning.

The company was suffering a deferred revenue loss of Rs 19 crore per day due to shut down of Hazira complex.

Hazira plant receives around 40.5 millioncubic meters per day (MCMD) of gas from ONGC's offshore Bassein field. It processes this to produce 1,650 tonnes of LPG, 3,350 t of aromatic naphtha, 417 t of superior kerosene oil and 48 t of high-speed diesel .

The company's South Bassein and B-55 fields in Mumbai offshore remained shut for the second consecutive day.

Panna, Mukta and Tapti

The ONGC-Reliance-British Gas operated Panna, Mukta and Tapti (PMT) fields did not produce any gas and were forced to cut oil production by 20,000 barrels per day. The gas from these fields was fed mainly for power and fertiliser plants and compressed natural gas (CNG) operations in Delhi.

According to sources, since Hazira could not receive gas, 30 MCMD output from Bassein and B-55 fields, and 10.5 MCMD gas and 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil from PMT fields was suspended.

Impact on GAIL

Asked whether the non-availability of gas has affected GAIL (India) Ltd's Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur(HVJ) pipeline, sources said the impact would not be very major immediately as gas is already there in line pack for two-three days.

Besides, the company can also ration the supply if need be, he said. While the Hazira-Vijaipur section of the pipeline is shut, Vijaipur-Jagdishpur section continued ferrying 18 MCMD from Petronet's Dahej terminal, the official said.

Power, fertiliser and transport sector is being given top priority, the official said.

ONGC's Bassein field only produces gas and so the oil production was not impacted. The company's oil and also gas output from its Mumbai High field goes to Uran in Maharashtra, which was operating normally.

But in PMT, oil and gas are produced from the same wells and since gas was not accepted at Hazira, oil output too was suspended.

Of the 65-70 wells producing oil in the field, only 17 were operating this morning, a company official said, adding that the crude oil output was down from 38,000 barrels per day to 18,000 barrels per day.

Mr A.K. De, Managing Director, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), belonging to the Category I of GAIL consumers from HVJ pipeline, said that the pipeline has facility for holding enormous gas.

Earlier also disruptions due to flood and plague have taken place, with restoration of normal supplies taking almost seven days, but the impact has not been serious. Besides, the company was also receiving re-gassified liquefied natural gas from the pipeline, thus alternate arrangement is available.

As a precaution IGL from Wednesday has cut down on its supplies to hotels (commercial users).

"The company was saving gas there," Mr De said.

IGL receives 1.3 MCMD gas from GAIL. The company supplies about 50,000 CMD of gas to commercial entities. IGL has well laid out its city gas distribution infrastructure in the city of Delhi consisting of about 168.7 km of steel pipeline and 739.6 km of MDPE pipeline and has created 146 CNG stations (including 2 in Noida) and has connected to over 48,000 domestic households, 215 small commercial customers and 41 large commercial customers.

In addition, IGL has also commenced supplying re-gasified LNG to six industrial consumers in Delhi.