The ONGC offshore drilling rig Sagar Samrat was commissioned as a Mobile Offshore Production Unit on December 23, 2022. (MOPU). The Sagar Samrat MOPU will be able to process up to 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day, have a maximum export gas capacity of 2.36 million cubic metres per day, and contribute 6000 barrels of oil per day to ONGC’s production in the days to come. The initial crude oil from the WO-16 Cluster was introduced into the MOPU processing system, and at the same time, the oil began to be shipped to the onshore port.
WO-16 Cluster includes four marginal fields located in the Arabian Sea at a sea depth of 75-80 metres, 130 kilometres from Mumbai, and around 40 kilometres from Mumbai High. It was proposed to establish a MOPU for producing, processing, and transporting oil and gas from the WO-16 Cluster since no adjacent facility existed to produce from this area.
On November 17, 2011, the contract to transform the Jack-up rig Sagar Samrat into a MOPU was awarded to a consortium that included Mercator Offshore (P) Ltd, Mercator Oil & Gas Ltd, and Gulf Piping Company. Despite several problems, including legal disputes and Covid-19, the MOPU was successfully erected near the WO-16 wellhead platform on April 16, 2022. Following receipt of all necessary regulatory clearances, the MOPU was successfully erected close to the WO-16 wellhead platform after being carried to India on a Heavy Lift Vessel.
The Sagar Samrat conversion is one of the most challenging endeavours that ONGC has ever taken on. The MOPU stands in the Arabian Sea as a tribute to the difficult decisions that were made during the implementation of the project, as well as the excellent stakeholder interaction conducted by ONGC that eventually achieved results.
The jack-up drilling rig Sagar Samrat was built in 1973 and has served as ONGC’s lucky totem ever since it was put into service. The rig was central in the discovery of India’s greatest oil field in 1974, which brought the company untold profits and redrawn the oil map of India. Mumbai High was the largest oil field in India at the time. Over 125 wells have been drilled by the rig, and it has been involved in the discovery of 14 large oil and gas deposits in offshore areas. Following its time as a Jack-Up Rig, it was decided to transform it into a MOPU in order to facilitate the production of WO-16 clusters. In the future, this will be transferred to a new region so that further discoveries can be monetized.
