Exploration & Production- Offshore

EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION- OFFSHORE

1. Introduction

Exploration and Production- Offshore group was set up in OISD in February 2007 to monitor the safety aspects of offshore E&P activities in India.

2. Background

After the Mumbai High accident in 2005, it was found that safety in offshore E&P activities was not monitored by any agency and there were no safety regulations in force beyond territorial waters. However E&P companies were observing best practices and international norms for adhering to the safety standards. Thus, a need was felt to establish offshore safety regime and OISD was assigned the safety of offshore E&P operations in 2006 by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

For capacity building in the area of offshore safety, OISD entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Mineral Management Service MMS () of United States of America and Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) of Norway seeking co- operation and exchange in the following: -

§ Development of offshore safety regulations and enforcement system

§ Training and accredited programmes for offshore safety auditors

§ Exchange and development of standards.

§ Management and supervision of safety in offshore areas etc.

OISD along with experts from PSA conducted two offshore safety audits jointly in November 2006 - Drilling Rig Sagar Ratna and BHS process complex of ONGC. These audits were based on the workshop conducted in April 2006 by PSA at Delhi. In March 2007, ‘Offshore Safety Auditors’ training was organized at Delhi for OISD and DGH officers by PETRAD along with PSA, Norway.

OISD has drafted ‘Petroleum and Natural Gas (Safety in offshore operations) Rules 2008’ which has been vetted by ministry of law and in due course will be notified. OISD got vetted above regulations by MMS of USA.

3. Activities

Sh. J.B.Verma, Executive Director - OISD and Sh.Gulab Singh, Director (E&P)-Offshore participated in ‘International Regulators Forum’ (IRF) conference on Offshore Safety in Miami in December 2007. Leading government and industry experts from 20 nations shared their views for safe exploration and production of offshore oil and gas. ED-OISD summarized Mumbai High incident and regulatory progress since then in a presentation.

There are 15 major Production Installations and 30 Drilling Rigs operating in Indian offshore areas. Offshore Group has carried out external safety audit (ESA) of 8 process platforms ( 6- ONGC and 2- Private / Joint Venture companies) and 5 drilling rigs ( 2- ONGC owned, 2- on ONGC contract, 1- on contract by Pvt/JV Co).
Status of implementation of ESA recommendations is monitored periodically and forwarded to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for perusal.

4. External Safety Audits Carried Out in 2006-07:-

S.N.	INSTALLATION/RIG	PERIOD
1	BHS PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC	13^th Nov. ‘06 to 17^Th Nov. ‘06
2	SAGAR RATNA, ONGC	06^th Nov. ’06 to 10^th Nov. ‘06
3	PPA, TPA, BGEPIL, MUMBAI	15^ThJan. ’07 to 19^th Jan. ‘07
4	PY-3, HARDY OIL, CHENNAI	26^th Mar. ’06 to 30^th Mar.’06

4.1 External Safety Audits Carried Out in 2007-08:-

S.N.	INSTALLATION/RIG	PERIOD
1	NQO PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC	11^th June ’07 to 15^th June ‘07
2	IC PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC	25^th June ’07 to 29^th June ‘07
3	BPA PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC	10^th Sep. ’07 to 14^th Sep. ‘07
4	SAGAR PRAGATI DRILLING RIG, ONGC	17^th Sep. ’07 to 21^st Sep. ‘07
5	HEERA PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC	13^th Nov. ’07 to 16^th Nov. ‘07
6	SH PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC	17^th Dec. ’07 to 21^st Dec. ‘07
7	TRIDENT 12 DRILLING RIG, ONGC	28^th Jan.’08 to 01^st Feb.08
8	PRIDE HAWAII DRILLING RIG, ONGC	11^th Feb. ’08 to 16^th Feb.’08

5. Audit Plan for 2008-09

WIN PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC, MUMBAI

SCA PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC, MUMBAI

BPB PROCESS COMPLEX, ONGC, MUMBAI

Process platform / Drilling Rig of Pvt/ JV co

ONGC owned drilling rig

6. Accidents/ Investigations

Accident data from companies is awaited.
Safety alerts issued for improving the awareness.