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Following the fire that claimed four lives at ONGC’s oil and gas processing plant at Uran near Navi Mumbai on Tuesday, Maharashtra Power Generation Company Ltd (Mahagenco) is procuring gas from GAIL. Gas supply to Mahagenco’s 672 MW power plant was hit.
However, supply to ONGC’s other consumers such as Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) has been fully restored. MGL supplies piped cooking gas to residential consumers and CNG for automobile fuel in Mumbai region.
A team from the ONGC top management is visiting the gas processing facility for damage assessment.
Mahagenco, a State-owned utility operates the gas-based power plant, located about 6 km away from ONGC’s facility, has four units of 108 MW and two units of 120 MW.
A senior Mahagenco official told BusinessLine that due to lower power demand in Maharashtra, the gas-based plant was producing about 256 MW of electricity on Tuesday. But due to the explosion at the ONGC facility, the management decided to shut down the plant. The gas supply has not resumed as of Wednesday, the official said.
A message from the Corporate Communication department of Mahagenco said that there was no threat to the power plant due to the explosion. Alternative arrangements are being made to procure gas from GAIL.
An ONGC press statement said that on Tuesday morning at about 6.47 am a strong hydrocarbon smell was reported at the Demineralised Water Plant (Oily Water Sewage Pit) and CISF security cabin, which is outside the main processing area. Plant personnel rushed to the site but a major fire incident occurred at 6.55 am.
Three CISF fire control personnel and a General Manager of ONGC succumbed to injuries in the fire. The blaze was brought under control by 8.55 am. Unprocessed gas being pumped from Bombay High oilfield was diverted to ONGC’s Hazira Plant. Efforts were made to meet full requirement of MGL, the statement said.
The fire and explosions at the plant created an atmosphere of fear in the villages surrounding the plant. About 5,000 people had to be temporarily relocated due to the fire.
ONGC tweeted that it is supplying 2 million metric standard cubic metre per day of Gas to MGL against the average daily requirement of 1.8 - 1.9 mmscmd. As such there’s no short supply. Steps have been taken keep ensure that supply to MGL remains uninterrupted so that citizens of Mumbai are not affected.
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