Oil production from Panna-Mukta fields to resume

Reliance Industries, British Gas and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)
are likely to resume oil production from Panna-Mukta fields, off
Mumbai coast, in a day or two, but the same for gas from the explosion-
ridden facility may take at least another couple of weeks to
restart.



Crude oil production may resume tomorrow or day after tomorrow. The
output will however be at a lower level since repair at a platform
that witnessed explosion on June 3, may take some time, sources in RIL-
BG-ONGC consortium said.


Oil production may be of the order of 10,000-15,000 barrels a day
against an output of 40,000 bpd before the explosion took place.


Oil cannot be produced at full capacity as at those levels
accompanying gas will have to be flared. Gas flaring is done at a
place which is very close to the equipment that are being repaired and
repairs cannot happen if the temperature goes up, they said.


Gas production is likely to resume in 2-3 weeks.


Reliance-BG-ONGC consortium had stopped producing 40,000 barrels of
oil per day and 5.5 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from
Panna-Mukta field since June 3 after an explosion at a platform killed
a worker with BG.


Panna-Mukta oil and gas field was shut on June 3 morning for
maintenance work to prepare for the forthcoming monsoon season.


However, when the facility was being restarted at 2024 hrs that
evening, an explosion occurred at Panna process platform killing one
person.


Besides shutting oil and gas production, the explosion damaged gas
dehydrating facilities at the platform, sources said