India oil sector regulator makes suggestions for laying pipeline following crude spill

Jul 26, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

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Kaieteur News – Following an investigation into the March 2023 oil leakage from a pipeline offshore Nagore in Cauvery Delta, India; the country’s oil sector regulatory body has made several suggestions in its report for the safe laying of a pipeline.

On March 2, a leak in the pipeline of a refinery that caused an oil spill in Nagore Pattinacherry coast caused the area to be contained – the Indian Express reported. In response, unrelenting fishermen from the village, who noticed the oil spill, expressed their agitation demanding the authorities to remove the underwater crude oil pipeline.

It was reported that the leak in the pipeline of the Cauvery Basin Refinery of the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) was apparently due to damage to the old pipeline used to transport crude oil to the Karaikal port once in one-and-a-half months.

However, a report by the Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD), a technical agency of the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, stated that the probable reasons for a leak in the crude oil were “shore erosion leading to loss of soil support, health deterioration of pipeline over the years, and the visible mechanical damage on the pipeline suspected to be caused by the heavy impact of hull of fisheries boat.”

Times of India reported, replying to a question, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, said no major reportable incident of crude pipeline leakage as defined in the Disaster Management Plan 2021 had been reported between 2018-19 and 2021-22 according to OISD. However, two incidents of leakage of crude oil pipelines, including the Nagapattinam incident, were reported in 2022-23.

The OISD has made recommendations in its report, including laying of pipelines at a sufficient distance from seashore, re-routing of pipeline if required and conduct of internal and external safety audit to avoid such incidents in future.

“After the receipt of OISD report on the incident of Nagapattinam, an advisory had been issued to all oil and gas PSUs, including CPCL,” the minister said.

It was also reported that the Union Minister maintained that the crude oil pumping was not operational at the time of leak and sand bund was created in the surrounding area during low tide the following day.

Notably, the pipeline was clamped, and the leak was arrested on March 4. “The crude oil pipeline in which the incident occurred at Nagapattinam was decommissioned and about 850m of the pipeline has been removed by CPCL on April 16,” Puri said.

The CPCL’s Cauvery Basin Refinery at Nagapattinam was decommissioned in April 2019, and the crude pipeline was used intermittently once in six weeks or so to transfer crude oil from CPCL CBR crude tanks to Karaikal port.  The last consignment was pumped on February 14, 2023 and the crude pipeline had been idle since then.

Moreover, Guyana and India is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance cooperation in the energy sector beyond crude oil exports, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed during an interview with WION in India. Jagdeo was in India on an official visit from February 20 to 25, 2023, at the invitation of the Vice President of India.

During the interview, Jagdeo was asked, “What kind of energy cooperation exists between India and Guyana? Any plans to export crude to India?”

Jagdeo responded, “So we’re expecting shortly to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that would go beyond just the export of crude, but we’ll look at the energy sector and its development in its totality.” He had explained that Guyana is now trying to build the architecture for a broader look at the energy sector and enhance cooperation between Guyana and India.

“And we are also looking to learn quite a bit from India. In that process as we build out our industry. In Guyana, it’s a fledgling industry. We just started producing oil in 2019. By 2027, we will produce over a million barrels, maybe 1.2 million barrels per day, that’s a steep ramp-up. That’s almost 20% of India’s daily use,” the Vice President said.

According to Jagdeo, Guyana is working to ensure that the sector develops in a manner where the oil companies bear their share of responsibilities both from an environmental perspective and a fiscal perspective and that the industry is developed in an orderly way.

“So that is why India’s assistance and its great technical skills, you have a lot of smart people here who can help us in defining the growth of the industry, but not just on oil, on the gas sector as we move to develop a gas policy and to start utilizing the gas resources and then in terms of environmental management, building capacity across the country,” Jagdeo added.

To this end, he noted that the Government of Guyana is looking forward with great excitement to the development of a strong relationship with India on energy-related matters.

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Delta, exports, President, Vice

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