Marine

Citation

(2006), "Marine", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315eac.001

Marine

Marine

27 July 2005BHN Production Platform

A fire has broken out on a major oil platform off India's west coast, and there are fears of many casualties. India's Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said that up to 300 people were on the platform but their fate was unclear. “We had a major fire and the platform has been completely destroyed” Mr Aiyar said. The platform, in the Bombay High field, is run by the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and produces 100,000 barrels of oil a day. The platform is some 160 kilometres off the coast of Mumbai. It is not clear how the fire started. The Bombay High field is India's biggest oil field, producing about half of the country's crude oil output.

27 July 2005. More than 300 people were rescued after a fire destroyed an oil platform off India's west coast, killing at least three and leaving 45 others missing. The Bombay High North (BHN) platform produces about a seventh of the country's oil. Some people jumped into lifeboats to escape the flames and get to platforms nearby after fire broke out at about 16.30, local time, Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said. A nearby support vessel in the Bombay High offshore oil field was also on fire and a chartered rig deployed in the vicinity had been abandoned, platform owner ONGC said. The platform stands about 160 kilometres offshore South-West of India's financial hub, Mumbai, where heavy rains and severe flooding had already stretched emergency services. “The platform has been completely destroyed” Mr Aiyar told a news conference in New Delhi. Initial reports indicated the fire may have started when a drilling vessel was swept into the platform by high monsoon winds, a government source told Reuters. Mr Aiyar said:

It is too early to say what was the cause of the fire but we have been able to rescue most of the people. As of a little while ago, three people have died and 45 are missing.

About 225 people were working on the platform, and a total of 341 people had been rescued by the coast guard, the navy and ONGC staff so far, ONGC officials said. “There were high swirls in the sea. High tides were due at around 16.30 hours and that was also around the time the accident happened” ONGC Chairman Subir Raha said. Rescue operations were hampered as ONGC's helicopters in Mumbai were grounded because of floods and the few that were available faced rough sea and poor visibility.

28 July 2005. A major fire yesterday engulfed a large oil production platform on India's largest offshore oil field, destroying a key part of the country's own production infrastructure and resulting in a huge search and rescue operation. The fire broke out on the BHN Production Platform at 16.30, local time, yesterday on India's Bombay High offshore oil field, trapping up to 300 oil workers. It also spread to a support vessel working in the area. The Coast Guard said last night that it had rescued 271 people and was in the process of rescuing a further 20 workers in the sea around the platform. It is unclear whether any of the offshore workers were killed in the incident. The cause of the fire was unknown, but it is thought a multi-purpose support vessel hit the platform, perhaps on the risers leading to the wellheads, and that a jack-up drilling rig owned by US driller Noble Corp was also involved. Indian state firm ONGC, which operates the platform and field, said in a statement that the support vessel was also on fire and personnel had abandoned the drilling rig Noble Charlie Yester, which was deployed in the vicinity. India's Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said up to 300 workers were on board the platform. “We had a major fire and the platform has been completely destroyed,” said Mr Aiyar. Around 160 kilometres off the coast of India's commercial capital Mumbai, the platform is thought to be capable of producing 100,000 barrels of oil per day at peak rates. ONGC said search and rescue operations were being carried out using support and platform supply vessels, plus a limited number of helicopters and Coast Guard aircraft. Helicopter operations were hampered by flooding in Mumbai caused by heavy monsoon rains that have flooded vast parts of the city and the Juhu helibase. The Bombay High field is India's biggest offshore infrastructure project, accounting for almost 40 per cent of the country's domestic oil production and 14 per cent of its crude consumption. The government expects India's overall oil and gas output will be affected by yesterday's fire and the destruction of the platform, which could cost around $200m-300m to replace. The incident is likely to have major ramifications for energy insurance markets.

28 July 2005. Noble Corporation announced today that the Marathon LeTourneau Class 116-C 300' independent cantilever jack-up rig Noble Charlie Yester, contracted by India's state owned Oil ONGC in the Bombay High field, was involved in a fire that began on ONGC's BHN offshore platform. The fire originated approximately 1,000 feet from the rig. Owing to monsoon conditions in the area and a ten hour time difference, information is incomplete and damage to the rig is unknown at this time. Of the Noble employees assigned to the Noble Charlie Yester, two are currently unaccounted for and search and rescue efforts are ongoing. Earlier today India's Minister of Oil reported the fire on the ONGC platform, indicating that the platform had been completely destroyed.

28 July 2005. The raging fire that gutted the ONGC BHN Production Platform in the Bombay High oilfield area was caused when ONGC support Samudra Suraksha (5,473 gt, built 1982), sent to “pick up” a sick worker on the oil platform struck the platform, said ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha today. It was earlier believed that a multipurpose support vessel docked nearby struck the platform due to high tide and choppy seas. He said: “The accident took place at 16.05 yesterday when the ONGC vessel approached the process platform BHN to transfer an ill person to the platform where medical facilities are available” he said. Raha said after the medical evacuation was completed, the vessel for some reasons, which are yet to be established, apparently lost control and contacted the platform, resulting in the fire. This mishap resulted in serious oil leakage, engulfing the platform and the vessel in a major inferno, he said. The personnel, both at platform and the vessel, made efforts to control the fire and abandoned the platform and vessel when the situation went beyond their control, he said. “The platform was burning till this morning. However, the oil spill has been brought under control with the help of ONGC and Navy personnel” he said. The damage to Samudra Suraksha was extensive but not enough to sink it. The vessel was insured for $60 million by ONGC. Meanwhile, the death toll in the huge fire has risen to risen to ten with 14 people still reported missing. There were 385 people on the platform when the incident took place. All the other 361 persons have been rescued. The dead included six ONGC personnel and one each from Samudra Suraksha and chartered drilling rig in Noble Charlie Yester. Two bodies were yet to be identified, said the ONGC chairman. Search is still on for missing persons, said Raha at a press conference in Mumbai, a thought that was also echoed in the Lok Sabha by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar today Raha said that the offshore BHN platform was insured for $195 million under ONGC's offshore package insurance policy. The surveyors from the insurance companies are expected to assess the extent of damage soon, he added. Raha said that committee of former chairmen and directors of ONGC has constituted to conduct an internal inquiry and go into the causes of this accident, he said. Royal Dutch/Shell will assist ONGC in probing the cause of a devastating fire at the oil platform. Shell will assist the committee. The platform was “totally lost” in less than two hours along with a Pawan Hans helicopter positioned on it, said the ONGC chairman in Mumbai. He said that ONGC support and supply vessels and three chartered helicopters were quickly mobilised for search and rescue operations. Raha said that ONGC will restore in two weeks time about 70 per cent of the 100,000 barrels per day output lost due to the fire. He said:

We have a contingency plan in place. The 15 wells that poured oil into MHN will be looped to other platforms in the area. We hope to restore 70 per cent of the MHN's production in two weeks time.

“Production from Mumbai High North has halted but it is business as usual in the south” the official said. “Our first priority is relief and rescue operations. A smaller team is working on the contingency plan to restore production” the official said. The ONGC official said, “We are confident of restoring the production levels of 100,000 barrels per day in less than six months time”. Meanwhile Aiyar said in the Lok Sabha that though the loss of the platform would immediately impact 110,000 barrels per day of crude production, it was expected that 70 per cent of this production would be restored over the next two weeks, while the rest of the production will be restored in four weeks.

29 July 2005. The death toll from a fire at the BHN oil platform off the Mumbai coast has risen to 12 with 15 people still reported missing, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday.

Rescue operations continued yesterday at the scene of India's worst offshore oil incident where 12 oil workers are confirmed dead and six remain missing. A fire on Wednesday (27 July) ripped through the BHN Production Platform on the country's largest offshore oil field destroying the platform and a supply vessel, while Noble's drilling rig was damaged. Navy and contracted vessels working in the area have rescued 358 workers with some survivors treated for burn injuries. Many of the survivors are back on shore while the naval vessels continue the search for more bodies. The fire on the platform, operated by state-owned ONGC 160 kilometres off Mumbai, destroyed the topsides in less than two hours. “The accident took place when support vessel Samudra Suraksha, under Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) operation, was engaged in a medical evacuation” said Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas. “The vessel lost control, drifted and collided with the platform, causing a major fire which also engulfed the support vessel”. The adjacent drilling jack-up rig Charlie Yester, owned by Noble, was also involved and two of Noble workers are feared dead as well as ten ONGC employees. ONGC thinks prompt action by its workers and continued training in health and safety saved many of its offshore workers during the accident, which coincided with a severe flood in Mumbai that hampered rescue attempts. “The casualty figure would have been much worse had proper training of the offshore people not been imparted as to how a person should fight such a situation” said an ONGC executive.

29 July 2005. Failure of the computer systems that control the functioning of the rig complicated matters when a massive fire destroyed BHN Production Platform in Bombay High, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said today. Talking to reporters after a meeting on rural business hubs at the Confederation of Indian Industry here, he said what was highly unusual was that the back-up system that was in place also failed at the same time. A three member panel headed by former ONGC Chief S.K. Manglik is probing Wednesday's (27 July) fire at ONGC's offshore oil platform, which killed 12 people. Aiyar praised rescuers for the way they worked against adverse conditions and managed to save over 350 lives. The minister said the affected ONGC employees would be compensated according to company policy. As for victims who were not ONGC employees, a compensation package would be worked out in a compassionate manner.

31 July 2005. SCI had given two more years of operational life to support Samudra Suraksha that struck the state-owned ONGC's offshore platform at Bombay High on Wednesday. In a 30 July letter, SCI had told ONGC that Samudra Suraksha, was fit for operations till 30 November 2007. All class and statutory certificates pertaining to Samudra Suraksha are valid till 30 November 2007, the letter said. SCI had cleared Samudra Suraksha as fit for two more years on 15 counts of statutory and vessel class requirements. SCI officials said Samudra Suraksha has completed only 22 years whereas the age limit for these kinds of supply ships is taken as 25 years which can be extended by another five years, depending on the vessels condition. The officials said the ship's thrusters, which provide power to keep it stationary in choppy seas, were fully functional when the accident occurred. These had been overhauled during October-December 2003 at Dubai under supervision of Rolls Royce Service Engineers, the original equipment manufacturers. ONGC officials said the ship was being towed to Mumbai for investigation. At the time of the accident, its engines had enough surplus power and there was no engine or other systems failure.

2 August 2005. Support Samudra Suraksha which was in collision with BHN Production Platform at Mumbai High last week, has sunk, SCI official said in Mumbai today. The vessel sank at around 01.00 hour, about 8.5 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast, official added saying that it sunk in “stormy conditions”. At least 11 persons were killed and 11 went missing as a result of the collision.

3 August 2005. Noble Corporation previously reported on the status of its Noble Charlie Yester jackup rig, which was operating approximately 1,000 feet from the fire that began on and destroyed ONGC's BHN Production Platform in the Bombay High field. As reported by Noble on 27 July two of the Noble employees assigned to Noble Charlie Yester were then unaccounted for with search and rescue efforts ongoing and the extent of any damage to the rig was unknown. A total of 73 persons onboard Noble Charlie Yester evacuated the rig after the fire began on ONGC's platform. In the search and rescue efforts, one of the two unaccounted for Noble employees died and one was safely rescued. One additional crew member, who was an employee of Discovery Hydrocarbons (P) Limited, died in the incident. Noble Charlie Yester escaped any significant damage as a result of the incident, according to a report of Matthews Daniel, an independent loss adjusting firm. The loss adjusting firm conducted an onboard survey of the rig on 30 July and has issued to Noble's insurance underwriters its report dated 1 August of initial observations. MatthewsDaniel's surveyor observed pockets of localized heat and fire damage and some areas of paint blackening/soot deposits. Based on the absence of paint blistering or cable damage, the surveyor reported that the rig was not exposed to significant radiant heat from the fire on ONGC's platform. Continuing poor weather conditions in the area have delayed the deployment of personnel on board the rig to complete the company's assessment of damage and testing of systems and equipment. The company expects the rig will be able to return to work for ONGC following repair or replacement of life-saving and other safety equipment lost or damaged in the incident.

3 August 2005. The internet, broadband and voice call services remained affected in more than 700-800 companies, including business process outsourcing (BPO) units, following the severance of two major undersea cables by ONGC support Samudra Suraksha, which sank Monday. Sea-Me-We 3 and Flag, the two undersea cables operated by Tata and Reliance Infocomm, respectively, were cut by the multi-purpose support vessel. Both undersea cables provide a crucial link between BPO companies in India and the USA. More than 50 synchronous transport modules (STM) were destroyed by the vessel. STM is a data transport and switching system that can provide a speed of 50 million bits per second regardless of the number of users. VSNL sources said:

About 23 STMs in the Sea-Me-We 3 have been destroyed near Mumbai. About 27 STMs of Flag were also hit. We have diverted the traffic to the back-up systems, but the pressure will be felt since we have to route the calls through Singapore and Europe.

The traffic has been routed through Cape of Good Hope using the SAFE, another undersea cable system connecting the USA through South Africa and the Far East, sources said. BPO companies like HCL, HP, Infosys, GE and Efund in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore have denied any adverse impact of the cable cut on their networks. However, executives working in these firms have complained of latency and echo in calls. If a call is delayed by 400 milliseconds, persons on either side experience a delay in the words spoken. This is described as latency. “Yesterday the latency went down to 150-200 milliseconds at many BPOs. We too experienced it for a few hours” said a technical executive at HCL. The VSNL spokesperson, while acknowledging that the ship has cut the undersea cable, said the impact was minimal and full capacity will be restored soon. A Reliance Infocomm spokesperson has also acknowledged that Flag has been hit. “It is too early to state the extent of the damage, but we can confirm there is a cut some 31 kilometres off Mumbai, which we will repair as quickly as possible”. The cable cut has affected Flag customer traffic heading East between Mumbai and Satun/Penang. “Our main priority is now to support our customers” said the company spokesperson. He added:

Prebooked restoration for all Flag customers has been implemented. The company is also working with the VSNL Mumbai landing station party colleagues to provide ad hoc restoration to customers without preplanned restoration.

The company also said Flag's marine contractor for this cable segment has been mobilised and it would not be possible to assess the exact cause of the damage until the cable repair is undertaken.

29 July 2005Princess of The World (Philippines)

The Philippine Coast Guard has turned down a request by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to convene a Board of Marine Inquiry to determine the cause and pinpoint responsibility in the fire which destroyed passenger ro/ro Princess of the World. “The Coast Guard is no longer responsible for investigating maritime accidents. This is now the MARINA'S function” Coast Guard Spokesman Lt Armand Balilo said. The refusal of the Coast Guard reveals the deep divisions and rivalries between the various state agencies regulating the Philippine maritime industry. Last year, the MARINA lobbied to have all safety functions transferred from the Coast Guard to its office. Despite opposition from the Coast Guard, Congress passed a new law called the “Domestic Shipping Development Act of 2004”. The new law practically stripped the Coast Guard of most of its functions. With not enough manpower and expertise, however, the MARINA as been unable to effectively carry out its new mandate and has been forced to turn to the Coast Guard for help.