ONGC works to repair offshore pipeline leak

Jan. 24, 2011
Oil & Natural Gas Corp. said it expected short-term repairs to be completed in a week on an offshore pipeline leak that briefly cut production from the Mumbai High area 80 km off Mumbai.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 24
-- Oil & Natural Gas Corp. said it expected short-term repairs to be completed in a week on an offshore pipeline leak that briefly cut production from the Mumbai High area 80 km off Mumbai.

ONGC detected the leak on its Mumbai Uran Trunk oil pipeline about 2 km from the BPB platform on Bassein oil and gas field on Jan. 21.

After an initial production loss of about 25,000 b/d of oil, ONGC diverted flow into the ICP Heera Uran Trunk pipeline. Some wells remained closed by operational constraints.

By Jan. 24, production from the western offshore area had climbed back to 312,000 b/d and was expected to reach 317,000 b/d, about 3,000 b/d below normal.

ONGC said permanent repair of the leaking pipeline would take “considerable time based on availability of long-lead materials.”

An initial assessment on the day the leak was detected found an oil spill about 1 mile long.