ONGC’s drilling rig starts oil and gas production in Arabian Sea

03 Jan 2023 Evaluate

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) iconic offshore drilling Rig -- Sagar Samrat has been commissioned as a Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) on December 23, 2022. Sagar Samrat MOPU will handle up to 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil, with a maximum export gas capacity of 2.36 million cubic meters per day and is expected to add 6000 bbls/day of oil to ONGC’s production in the coming days. The first oil from WO-16 cluster flowed into the processing system of MOPU and dispatch to onshore terminal commenced.

WO-16 is a cluster of four marginal fields in the Arabian Sea at a water depth of 75-80 m and 130 km from Mumbai which is about 40 km from the Mumbai High. Since, no nearby facility exists to produce from this field, it was planned to install a MOPU for production, processing and transportation of oil and gas from WO-16 Cluster.

The project to convert Jack-up rig Sagar Samrat into a MOPU was awarded to a Consortium of Mercator Oil & Gas, Mercator Offshore (P) and Gulf Piping Company (GPC) on November 17, 2011. After several hurdles like the legal challenges and Covid-19, the MOPU was transported to India, on a Heavy Lift Vessel and post statutory clearances, successfully installed close to the WO-16 wellhead platform on April 16, 2022.

The Sagar Samrat conversion project is one of the most complex projects executed by ONGC. The MOPU stands tall in the Arabian Sea, as a testimony, to narrate the stories of several tough decisions taken during its execution and the excellent stakeholder consultation by ONGC which eventually yielded results.

ONGC is India’s largest government-run corporation and produces about 70% of India’s crude oil and natural gas. The corporation is the biggest public sector commercial organization in India.

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