“ONGC Jeetega toh India Jeetega (ONGC's victory is India's victory)”, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister for Housing and Urban Development Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said while rededicating Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) iconic jack-up drilling rig Sagar Samrat, as a Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) on 28 January 2023 at a ceremony held on Sagar Samrat. The Minister later visited ONGC Kendriya Vidyalaya Grounds, Panvel Phase 1 to meet the Energy Soldiers of ONGC and their families.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, in the presence of Chairman ONGC Arun Kumar Singh and Director (T&FS) OP Singh, re-dedicating Sagar Samrat to the nation

The Minister met the ONGC employees who manned the Prince of Arabian Sea, as a drilling rig and the team which worked on converting it to a MOPU. The Minister felicitated the initial crew members of Sagar Samrat who worked in the seventies after the discovery of Bombay High. On the occasion, he also motivated the Energy Soldiers of ONGC to continue their efforts for India’s energy security. The Minister highlighted how Sagar Samrat is a testimony of India’s vision of producing its own oil when it was globally labelled as “barren” in terms of hydrocarbon exploration.

Speaking on time-bound deliverables and efficiency, the Minister stated that in harnessing India’s most prominent and prolific oilfield, ONGC has consistently committed itself to the pursuit of knowledge, continual excellence and the willingness to evolve technologically. The crew of Sagar Samrat were inspired by the Minister, who extolled them by saying, “You are the Energy Soldiers whose efforts add strength to the energy revolution happening in India now. You are the crew which is driving India’s energy transformation. Your efforts fuel our journey towards realizing our national energy goals. God bless you.”

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri speaking on introducing Key Performance Indicators for time-bound deliverables and efficiency

Adding to the above, the Minister said that India, which is demonstrating the fastest growth in the world at present, is looking at ONGC to energize it. In this digital era, the energy sector has navigated the turbulence to explore new avenues and make transition into green energy. “ONGC has had a historic past, proud present and glorious future ahead. 25% of the increased global energy demand will come from India. With the advent of new technological innovations, we are on the brink of creating an exploration and production marvel that we could not have imagined a few years ago.” He proposed that ONGC has to become more agile and employees have to reorient like Sagar Samrat.

To achieve time-bound deliverables and increase efficiency, he called for introducing new and improved Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in operations that will help in the utilization of the large sedimentary basin acreages that ONGC has. “ONGC has had a historic past, proud present, and glorious future ahead. The Government of India intends to increase India's exploration acreage to 0.5 million sq. km. by 2025 and 1.0 million sq. km. by 2030. The government has been successful in reducing the ‘No Go' areas by 99%, thereby, making available an additional approx. 1 million Sq.km. of India's EEZ for exploration,” the Minister said further.

Union Minister interacting with the crew of Sagar Samrat and monitoring activities

These KPIs need to focus on three important goals. ONGC possesses a large sedimentary basin acreage, which will go up even further in the coming days. It is imperative that the organization make extra efforts to convert it’s ‘Yet to find’ acreage into Discovery fields, Discovery fields into Production assets and Production assets into Maximum Production assets. Teams across ONGC which are engaged in different processes of the three phases must re-orient themselves for accelerated achievements of these targets, the Minister suggested.

Deliberating on a future roadmap that could cater to the growing energy needs of the nation, Mr Puri asserted that while ONGC has done a yeoman’s service to the nation over the years, the time has come for the organization to “shift its orientation from processes to outcomes”. Quoting management gurus, the Minister said what cannot be measured cannot be improved.

Noting that India, in 2023, has progressed to the digital age of 5G and UPI where real-time transactions and fast-paced decision-making are the norms, Mr Puri unscored, “I want to underline the fact that every unnecessary delay and bottleneck in processes cost the Indian taxpayer immense money, and hence, all efforts should be made to make the organization agile, expedient and efficient.”

During his visit to Rig Sagar Samrat, Petroleum Minister was accompanied by Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain, Chairman ONGC Arun Kumar Singh, Director (T&FS) Om Prakash Singh, Director (Offshore) and Director (HR)-Additional Charge Pankaj Kumar and Director (Exploration) Sushma Rawat.

Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain addressing the gathering

With its historic achievements, Mr Jain continued, Sagar Samrat has become a symbol emblematic of ONGC. “We have to take the aspiration, the 'oomph' factor, up a notch that is associated with ONGC. We need to rise to the occasion, change with the times and scale new heights. I hope that ONGC will be recognized not just as India's largest PSU but as one of the largest oil companies of the world,” he reiterated.

The Minister later visited ONGC Kendriya Vidyalaya Grounds, Panvel Phase 1 to meet the Energy Soldiers of ONGC and their families.

The celebrations on the occasion included educational exhibition featuring models of ONGC’s rigs and platforms along with core samples. A dance performance celebrating ‘Colors of India’ also took place, along with several competitions. The Minister interacted with ONGC employees and families and inspired them that the future of growing India depends on their contribution. India is growing fastest in the world and its energy needs are vital.

>The august gathering listening ardently to the Minister’s speech on the occasion

MOPU Sagar Samrat commenced production on 23 December 2022. The vessel is presently deployed at Western Offshore (WO)-16 field, located 140-145 kilometres west of Mumbai. Located adjacent to the ONGC’s existing WO-16 well head platform (WHP) in 76m of water depth, the vessel will be instrumental in producing from marginal fields in WO cluster thereby augmenting production from Western Offshore. The MOPU is designed to handle 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil and has a maximum export gas capacity of 2.36 million cubic meters per day.

Commissioned in 1973, Sagar Samrat was built at the Mitsubishi yard in Japan and set sail from Hiroshima on 3 April 1973. It drilled ONGC’s first Offshore well in 1974 in Mumbai Offshore region of Arabian Sea, then called the Bombay High. Sagar Samrat turned tides of India’s oil fortune by putting it on the global oil map. In 32 years, Sagar Samrat has drilled almost 125 wells and has been involved with 14 key offshore oil and gas discoveries in India. The British engineering and consulting conglomerate Wood Group’s Mustang unit based in Texas carried out the front-end engineering and design for the vessel’s conversion.

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