ONGC's Sagar Samrat rig starts oil and gas production off Mumbai coast

The iconic offshore drilling Rig of ONGC ‘Sagar Samrat’ has been commissioned as a Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) on 23 December 2022. Sagar Samrat MOPU will handle up to 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil, with a maximum export gas capacity of 2.36 million cubic meters per day and is expected to add 6000 bbls/day of oil to ONGC’s production in the coming days.

The first oil from WO-16 cluster flowed into the processing system of MOPU and dispatch to onshore terminal commenced. WO-16 is a cluster of four marginal fields in the Arabian Sea at a water depth of 75-80 m and 130 km from Mumbai which is about 40 km from the Mumbai High. 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.

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 17 November 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 16 April 2022.

The Sagar Samrat conversion project 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.