Cairn India SPM untraceable off Gujarat coast

Ahmedabad, 22 August 2013

An unmanned Single Point Mooring (SPM) of Cairn India installed offshore of Bhogat has been reported untraceable from its installed location. The value of SPM is around Rs. 125 crore and it weighs more than 200 tonnes.

The terminal and SPM are yet to be commissioned and hence there is no fear oil spill or injury to anyone.

Cairn India in its statement said, “the company is taking this incident report with utmost seriousness. The Coastguard at Porbander and other regulatory agencies have been informed, in accordance with our HSE management system.”

“We have put in place all appropriate mechanisms to retrieve it and all necessary actions have been initiated, while further investigation of the incident is in progress,” the statement reads.

“This incident is not expected to have any impact on the production forecasts or the project schedule,” the statement further said.

More on SPM

SPM developed by Cairn India Ltd (CIL) in Joint Venture (JV) with Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) which has been actively involved in exploration of hydrocarbon resources in RJ-ON-90/1 block in the state of Rajasthan over the last several years. The massive exploration programmes undertaken have resulted in a number of oil and gas field discoveries including the giant Mangala oil field. The crude oil production from Mangala and other discovered fields is likely to contribute more than 20% of India’s current crude oil production in the coming years. CIL, as operator of the block on behalf of the JV, started production from the Mangala field in year 2009. The oil is currently being transported from Barmer to Salaya through a continuously heated and insulated pipeline, called as Barmer-Salaya Pipeline (BSPL-Phase-I).

The crude oil pipeline along with the related facilities has been extended to the Arabian Sea Coast near Bhogat in Jamnagar district to support marine tanker loading infrastructure in the Arabian Sea. The Phase-II extension of BSPL consists of Salaya-Bhogat Pipeline (SBPL), Crude Oil Tankfarm (COT) at Bhogat and export pipelines and Single Point Mooring (SPM) system off the coast of Bhogat.

Similar to various benefits brought in by the marine facilities at Bhogat, it will also enable movement of crude oil through marine tankers that would help in reduction on import bill of crude oil and petroleum products resulting in savings of foreign exchange along with economical development of the area by way of development of roads and infrastructure, social development of the area by way of income generation opportunities, community development of the area by way of various community development plans including schooling and transport carried out by Cairn India Ltd.

The Salaya-Bhogat Pipeline (SBPL) section is being developed as a part of the Phase-II development of MDP Project (MDPP). The SBPL will facilitate the storage and evacuation of Rajasthan crude oil through Crude Oil Storage Terminal at Bhogat and an offshore Single Point Mooring (SPM) system on the Arabian Sea.

This section of the pipeline is facing some execution challenges, and is expected to be completed in H1 CY 2013. Post completion of the entire pipeline from MPT to Bhogat, i.e. approximately 670 km, the pipeline will give Cairn India access to a much wider crude oil market.

Bhogat Terminal Facilities

The Bhogat terminal is a 160 hectare site located 8 km from the Arabian Sea coast at Bhogat in Jamnagar District, Gujarat. The terminal will facilitate the storage and evacuation of Rajasthan crude by sea. Some key elements of Bhogat terminal are:

1. A total crude storage capacity of 2.1 mm bbls
2. Two 24” sub-sea export pipelines from the Bhogat land fall point to the Single Point Mooring (SPM) system to enable crude transfer
3. SPM system and sub-sea pipeline end manifold in deep sea to enable tanker berthing and loading Going forward, the company plans to de-bottleneck and augment the MDP, which is expected to add around 10% extra capacity to the pipeline. Further capacity expansion is being envisaged through incremental investments. This will enable the Company to ramp up the production from the block, subject to the JV and GOI approval.