The Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Mr. Tarun Kapoor visited Western Offshore fields of ONGC on 23 November 2020. In a whirlwind visit to ONGC’s offshore locations, Mr. Kapoor visited B-193 process platform followed by FPSO – Armada Sterling and Drilling rig Jindal Star. He was accompanied by Director (Offshore) Mr. Rajesh Kakkar, Chief Drilling Services Mr. Arun Jaiswal, ED-Asset Manager of B&S Asset Mr. C Mathavan.

Petroleum Secretary Tarun Kapoor at ONGC B-193 process platform

Mr. Tarun Kapoor interacted with the senior ONGC executives to understand ONGC’s operational response to COVID-19 pandemic, methods and timelines of quarantine, testing protocol being followed and related measures. While appreciating the operational response of ONGC to the pandemic, he suggested that the all efforts be made to pre-empt infections and keep operations streamlined.

In the first leg of his visit at B- 193, a detailed presentation on the operations of the platform was made to Mr. Kapoor.  ONGC is one of the few companies in the world to sweeten sour gas in the process platform itself. The Secretary evinced keen interest in understanding the processes involved, the challenges therein and the safety measures in place.

Secretary Tarun Kapoor interacting with ONGC officials at B-193 in presence of Director (Offshore)

The various production enhancement initiatives in taken in the three Western Offshore Assets, Mumbai High, Bassein & Satellite and Neelam & Heera Asset were explained to the Secretary. Director (Offshore) Mr. Rajesh Kakkar highlighted state-of–the art technologies in operations as well as various challenges of operating in offshore in the implementation of these technologies.

The Director shared the impact of lockdown across the world on the timelines of various projects. While appreciating the initiatives being taken to enhance production from the offshore, Mr. Kapoor advised that focus should be maintained on timelines of various projects factoring in various constraints due to the lockdown.

Glimpses of visit of the Secretary to B - 193

In the second leg of the visit, the Secretary Mr. Kapoor visited FPSO, Armada Sterling. Functional and Operational aspects of FPSO were explained to him during his field visit to the FPSO. Mr. Kapoor visited the control room and was explained about the oil offtake to a tanker.

The Petroleum Secretary being explained the operations of FPSO

The last part of the visit was at drilling rig Jindal Star deployed in NBP field. Here, Mr. Tarun Kapoor was explained about various types of drilling rigs which are used for various type of drilling like underbalanced drilling, side track etc. ED-Chief Drilling Services Mr. Arun Jaiswal explained the various aspects of offshore drilling, including directional drilling.

The Secretary being shown a glimpse of the drilling operations

Commending team Western Offshore, Mr. Tarun Kapoor recorded his appreciation in the visitor’s book at three locations:

At B-193 Platform

At FPSO

At Rig Jindal Star