State-owned ONGC's vintage offshore drilling rig 'Sagar Samrat' has a new role—as a mobile production unit that started doing its job last month, the company said on Tuesday.
The rig, which had outlived its sell-by date, was refurbished into a mobile offshore production unit (MOPU), capable of bringing to surface oil and gas found below the seabed.
Sagar Samrat MOPU, which was commissioned on December 23 last year, will handle up to 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil, with a maximum export gas capacity of 2.36 million cubic metres per day and is expected to add 6,000 barrels per day of oil to ONGC's production in the coming days.
"The first oil from the WO-16 cluster flowed into the processing system of MOPU and dispatch to onshore terminal commenced," Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said in a statement.
WO-16 is a cluster of four marginal fields in the Arabian Sea at a water depth of 75-80 metres and 130 kilometers from Mumbai.
"Since no nearby facility exists to produce from this field, it was planned to install a MOPU for production, processing and transportation of oil and gas from WO-16 Cluster," it said.
The project to convert jack-up rig Sagar Samrat into a MOPU was awarded to a consortium of Mercator Oil & Gas Ltd, Mercator Offshore (P) Ltd and Gulf Piping Company (GPC) on November 17, 2011.
"After several hurdles like the legal challenges and Covid-19, the MOPU was transported to India, on a Heavy Lift Vessel and post statutory clearances, successfully installed close to the WO-16 wellhead platform on April 16, 2022," the statement said.
The Sagar Samrat conversion is one of the most complex projects executed by ONGC.
"The MOPU stands tall in the Arabian Sea, as a testimony, to narrate the stories of several tough decisions taken during its execution and the excellent stakeholder consultation by ONGC which eventually yielded results," it added.
Sagar Samrat is a jack-up drilling rig built in 1973. The rig was instrumental in the discovery of India's biggest oil field, Mumbai High in 1974.
Over the years, it has drilled over 125 wells and has been involved with 14 key offshore oil and gas discoveries.
After serving its life as a jack-up rig, it was decided to convert it into a MOPU for production from the WO-16 cluster. Later, this will be shifted to other locations for monetisation of other discoveries.
