What is Bombay High

A devastating fire destroyed the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation oil-drilling platform at Bombay High, India’s biggest offshore oilfield off Mumbai coast, on Wednesday afternoon.

There were 385 people on the platform when the fire broke out. Ten persons are confirmed dead and 14 are still missing, while the rescued personnel are being brought to the mainland.

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What is the quantum of loss that the fire has destroyed ?

Official statistics of what is the financial loss to ONGC due to the fire are not available. But reports say it could be as high as Rs 32,000 crore (Rs 320 billion). The platform that was gutted in the fire was insured for $195 million.

Is this the first fire on Bombay High ?

No, this is the second major fire on Bombay High. There was a major fire at the gas field in 1999, but it was not as devastating as the current one.

Who discovered Bombay High ?

A Russian and Indian oil exploration team that was mapping the Gulf of Cambay in 1965 in a seismic exploration vessel called Academic Arkhangelsky discovered the Bombay High oilfield.

ONGC geophysicist M Krishnamurthy headed the Indian team. According to Krishnamurthy, in those days they used explosives as source and used a 24 channel analog instrument without any magnetic record for mapping for oil fields.

While they were mapping the regional line from across the Gulf of Cambay, they came across the first line where the exploration team decided to drill for oil.

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