This Article is From Oct 07, 2013

Oil spill off Mumbai coast; ONGC fixes leak in pipeline

Oil spill off Mumbai coast; ONGC fixes leak in pipeline

A CISF guard keeps a watch at the site where more than 5000 liters of crude oil spilled in Uran creek in Navi Mumbai

New Delhi: An oil spill has been reported off the Mumbai coast after a rupture in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) main trunk pipeline yesterday.

The ruptured Mumbai-Uran Trunk oil pipeline carries crude oil from Mumbai High fields.

"The oil leakage has been controlled and control measures have been initiated to deal with the small spill in the sea," an official said.

Another official said there was power tripping yesterday due to rains, which led to a small leakage developing in the pipeline.

"The SCADA system in the pipeline reported the leak to the control room which immediately stopped the flow by diverting the crude oil to a parallel line," he said.

The leak was plugged this morning and ONGC teams were using chemicals to control the small quantity of oil floating on the sea surface.

Officials said operations at Mumbai High oil and gas field remain unaffected and they are producing normally.

In January 2011, the pipeline had ruptured causing a major oil spill, 80 km away from Mumbai's coast. The spill had at that time spread to around 4 square km.

In August this year, an oil spill has been reported in the coastal areas of Gulf of Khambhat following a rupture in ONGC's pipeline near Bhadbhut village of Bharuch district of Gujarat.

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