Sub sea pipe leak hits western offshore oil and gas production

According to an ONGC release, a sub sea pipe leakage has cut out 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 5 million cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas from western offshore fields of Panna and Mukta.

ONGC has a 40 per cent stake while Reliance Industries and the Indian unit of BG Group PLC own 30 per cent each in the in the joint venture that operates the fields. The fields were producing 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day before the leakage in the Single Buoy Mooring (SBM), oil evacuation system was detected and production was stopped, according to sources.

Sources say the production of crude oil from the field is almost zero while gas production has also been hit with output falling from around 14 million standard cubic metres per day to 9.24 mmscmd. However, the adjoining Tapti field continues producing 9.09 mmscmd of gas.

The rough weather in the Arabian sea has not allowed the repairs to be carried out so far. The divers have also not been able to locate the leak and it may be a week to 10 days before the facility is repaired the sources say.

State-run gas utility GAIL India, which markets the gas produced from the fields effected a pro-rata cut on all customers.

The output of natural gas from the three fields has been steadily falling and after the leakage it has come down to just over 9 mmscmd from 14 mmscmd. Earlier the output was 17 mmscmd.