Oil spill spreading towards Mumbai Port

Oil spill spreading towards Mumbai Port

Indian coast guard officials told the Press Trust of India that a thin sheen of oil covering 10 nautical miles was spotted on Thursday moving east toward Mumbai.
"The oil spill has the potential of spreading fast as the seas are rough," an official said. The coast guard said a Dornier aircraft had sprayed the slick with a dispersant and dispatched oil pollution control ships.
The accident led to a a massive rescue operation in high seas at night, with the government sending eight naval and coastguard ships, two aircraft and four helicopters from the air force and navy. Rescuers battling towering seas at night rescued 354 workers from a blazing Indian offshore oil platform but at least 10 people died and a search is under way for 14 still missing, officials said on Thursday. Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told parliament that 384 personnel had to abandon the platform when it caught fire on Wednesday afternoon. "So far, 10 personnel are confirmed dead," Aiyar said.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, (ONGC) which owns the platform, said 354 workers were rescued from the platform and six divers were also saved and are undergoing decompression. The company said 14 workers were still missing. Of the 10 dead, six were ONGC employees and two were contract workers, an ONGC official said. Aiyar said two bodies had yet to be identified.
Aiyar told parliament that heavy swells pushed a nearby support vessel into the platform, sparking a blaze that engulfed and destroyed both. Some workers jumped into the Arabian Sea and clambered on to lifeboats while others scrambled to safety via a bridge to another rig. The giant platform, located some 160 kilometres west of Mumbai, produces 110,000 barrels of crude a day, Aiyar said. ONGC chairman Subir Raha told reporters the company could restore about 70 per cent of the lost production within a month.
"Our engineers have worked through the night to develop an alternative scheme, which I have reviewed, and with that we expect to reach almost 70 per cent of production lost within four weeks," Raha said. "We have picked up people from the sea and there were people who were in the water for more than 12 hours," Madanjit Singh, commander-in-chief of the Western Naval Command, said on Thursday as survivors were reaching shore. A kitchen attendant working in the oil platform canteen, Murli Yadav, said he was one of the workers who jumped into the sea.
"This was the worst I have been through," said Yadav who was one of 129 people rescued who arrived on a ship at Mumbia’s Victoria Docks on Thursday afternoon. "I just ran and jumped off when I felt the heat." The first batch of survivors were greeted with jubilation by loved ones as they related the events of the blaze.
"I heard six blasts, with fire and smoke everywhere. The accident happened when I was working on the adjoining rig seven metres away. I managed to escape in time as there was a rescue vehicle close by," said Shaheed Rehman, an engineer working on contract with ONGC. The fire broke out as Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, was paralysed by the heaviest one-day rainfall ever measured in India. Rail, air and communication links were disrupted throughout the city. The complete destruction of the oil platform was expected to lead to a formal enquiry.

Aiyar told parliament it was insured for 195 million dollars and the destroyed support vessel was insured for 60 million dollars. The platform pumped oil from the Mumbai High North (MHN) field, which produces 260,000 barrels a day, or 38 per cent of the country’s crude output and is home to the country’s biggest gas field, Bassein. India imports about 70 per cent of its crude oil needs annually and has been engaged in extensive oil diplomacy to find new supplies to feed growing demand as the economy grows around seven percent a year.
ONGC is India’s largest company by market capitalization. It has extensive oil production and exploration operations abroad in around a dozen countries including in Sudan and Russia.