RAJAHMUNDRY: The oil and gas exploration activities of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have came to a standstill following the Gas Authority of India Limited’s (GAIL) gas pipeline blast at Nagaram village of Mamidikuduru mandal in East Godavari district on June 27.
Because of this, 34 lakh cum of gas production and 700 metric tonnes of oil production were affected at the ONGC wells in the past 20 days. As a result, power generation at the plants dependent on gas has also been hit badly. Power generation to a tune of 600 MW has been stalled at various plants.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed the ONGC to stop its oil and gas exploration activities until the expert committee submits its report on the quality of gas pipelines. Immediately after the pipeline blast incident, the ONGC has delinked its well from the Gas Collection Station (GCS) at Tatipaka and others wells. ONGC has replaced its pipelines over a stretch of 350 km and the work is in progress over a length of another 42 km stretch. The total length of the pipeline is 707 km in the Krishna-Godavari Basin.
ONGC has about 150 wells out of which nearly 70 are in the Konaseema region. Along with crude oil, about 200 metric tonnes of condensed oil production from ONGC wells was also stopped.
ONGC has strengthened its safety and surveillance system to check its pipelines round-the-clock with three teams. The Crisis Management Team (CMT), the Special Protection Force (SPF) and a team of experts of oil and gas check the pipelines round-the-clock. Due to shortage of gas, 100 MW of power generation at Vijjeswaram Power Plant, 300 MW at Lanco Power Plant and 200 MW at Vemagiri Power Plant was stalled.
Production of urea came to a halt at the Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemical Factory (NFCL). Speaking to TNIE, ONGC Rajahmundry Asset executive director P Krishna Rao said that awareness meetings on gas supply through pipelines for government officials especially of the revenue and police departments would be conducted shortly.
He said ONGC is giving top priority to the safety of the people in its operational area in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, he added.