Shirish Nadkarni
OGJ Correspondent
MUMBAI, Oct. 27 -- India's state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has proposed the establishment of ONGC Peripherals Ltd. (OPL), a nongovernmental shipping joint venture, along with a number of other shipping companies.
Subir Raha, ONGC chairman and managing director, recently made the JV proposal to Petroleum Minister Ram Naik.
Along with other shipping firms, the OPL JV would include port or ship repair companies, both from India and elsewhere, for operating and maintaining air and sea fleets.
"[OPL] will help ONGC retain its focus on oil and gas exploration while getting professionals to manage the logistics, thus cutting cost," Raha said in New Delhi.
ONGC's current fleet
ONGC currently employs barges and ships for seismic and geotechnical surveys, equipment and spare supplies, surface and subsea inspection and repairs, towing and anchoring, and pipe laying and transportation.
ONGC owns 38 vessels and charters more than 90 others (excluding rigs) of different types. Also, all of the corporation-owned vessels currently have operation and maintenance contracts.
In addition, ONGC owns three helicopters and charters more than 15 for air logistics. The annual operational expenditure of all these exceeds $215 million.
"OPL is necessary to induct professionally skilled and experienced self-starters, and to acquire a modern fleet under the Indian flag," Raha said.
The impetus behind the formation of the JV could be rooted in a recent incident involving a helicopter that was transporting ONGC personnel to one of its rigs in Bombay High. The helicopter crashed and killed some of those onboard.
The chopper had been chartered from a private company and allegedly suffered from improper maintenance. It also was alleged to have been overloaded at the time that it crashed.
The incident caused a furor within the rank and file of ONGC, some of whose employees surrounded and stoned their chairman's car. Raha escaped injury, ONGC said.