The Hindu Business Line : ONGC may resume production at Hazira on Aug 18

Flood woes
To start with, ONGC will resume shift duty from tomorrow.
Power supply resumed in the three residential colonies of ONGC on Saturday.
Apart from ONGC's local staff, the corporation has temporarily redeployed those who were transferred from Hajira.

Hazira , Aug. 13

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is expecting to resume gas production on August 18, while Krishak Bharati Co-operative Ltd (Kribhco) hopes to follow suit by month-end, officials said on Sunday after inspecting the losses the two major facilities suffered due to last week's floods from the Tapi river.

"We expect to resume the first phase of producing five million standard cubic meter per day (mscmd) of gas on August 18 and ONGC's Hajira facility would go on full steam in the next four to five days thereafter," Mr N.K. Mitra, Director (Offshore), told Business Line here today.

To start with, ONGC will resume shift duty from Monday. Power supply resumed in the three residential colonies of ONGC on Saturday.

Besides, the Gujarat Electricity Board is providing 2 MW from Sunday night as all three captive power plants of ONGC, producing a total of 57.6 MW, remained flooded and could not be immediately activated.

Stating that ONGC had never faced a disaster of this magnitude anywhere in India, he remarked that the State Government should have coordinated in a "better manner" with the Corporation before releasing a huge volume of water. Referring to a minor flood in 1993, he said that had flooded the Hazira plant only up to four feet. In last week's flood, the plant had been submerged from six to 20 feet. ONGC had to seek help from the Indian Navy.

Loss assessment

Mr Mitra said ONGC has suffered losses of about Rs 20 crore per day. Since stopping production altogether from the midnight of August 7 and August 8 , the total losses caused to the 80-odd gas customer companies across western, northern and central India remained to be assessed. Insurance officials were also descending on Hazira to assess the damages. The plant has an annual turnover of about Rs 7,000 crore.

To put the things back on rails at the earliest, ONGC has formed three committees in Mumbai to ensure quickest relief and restoration at Hazira and enrolled equipment suppliers such as ABB, Siemens, BHEL, Tata-Honeywell and Keltron whose officials and material have started landing inn Hazira on Sunday. Apart from ONGC's local staff, the corporation has temporarily redeployed those who were transferred from Hazira and brought in about 1,000 contract labourers to dewater and flush out mud from the plant premises.

According to Mr Johari, ONGC is likely to suffer production losses to the tune of about Rs 200 crore for the August 8-18 period, excluding the losses to put the machinery back in use.

Kribhco's Manager (P&A), Mr N.K. Sahu, said the losses were being assessed by the management and the plant was likely to resume functioning by month-end. The clean-up process would take at least a week, he added.

The Hazira Plant's Executive Director, Mr P.K. Johari, told Business Line that five pumps airlifted from Mumbai were now dewatering the premises. To put the power plants back on rails, the Army was supplying fuel. Interestingly, while monitoring the outflow of water from the Ukai dam, ONGC had activated its flood control room on August 6 itself, a day before the actual flooding began, he said. After the release of water, the plant curtailed gas supply in two phases of five mmscmd each on August 7 evening, and shut down the plant altogether by midnight when flood water levels reached six to 20 feet in different areas of the premises.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Bay waters threaten to warm up again

Pesticide residue: Indian grapes pass UK test

ONGC may resume production at Hazira on Aug 18

Software cos pay lower taxes while income rises

Tax management, the Infosys way

Consolidation mode may extend

Small, mid-cap cos a big draw for pvt equity funds

ISPs want a share of broadband pie

Sahara seeks insurance cover against match cancellation