The Hindu Business Line : PMT venture gains due to ONGC-Bassein shutdown

Kolkata, Jan. 7 The temporary production shut down at ONGC’s giant offshore gas field at South Bassein beginning January 2 has provided an opportunity for the Panna-Mukta-Tapti joint venture of Reliance-British Gas-ONGC to earn some extra money.

Interestingly, for PMT the opportunity has come at a time when it is scheduled to go for five to six days production shut down of the 12-13 million standard cubic metre a day (mmscmd) capacity Tapti field later this month soon after ONGC brings Bassein back into production.

ONGC produces approximately 13 mmscmd of natural gas at South Bassein. The company has shut down the production for 15 days to operationalise new platforms.

According to sources, PMT which stabilises its production at 17-17.5 mmscmd due to pipeline as well processing capacity constraints is now producing in the range of 19-19.5 mmscmd. PMT shares common processing infrastructure with ONGC at the latter’s Hazira facility.

“The shut down of South Bassein has offered us an opportunity to enhance our gas sales by 70 million cubic ft a day,” a PMT source told Business Line. At an average gas price of $5.57, the joint venture is set to earn an additional revenue of Rs 22 crore in 15 days at the Friday’s exchange rate of Rs 39.15 a dollar. The gains will increase if ONGC extends the shutdown period or dollar strengthens.

The increased earnings will help minimise the impact of PMT’s projected revenue loss of approximately Rs 58 crore due to scheduled shut-down of Tapti gas field for six days for integration of two new platforms into the system, later this month. The integration of new platforms will help increase operational efficiency of the joint venture without any direct impact on production.