Plans to extend safety zone around Indian offshore installations
19 November 2009
The Indian Government is planning to expand the safety zone around its offshore oil and gas installations to strengthen the security of India’s offshore oil and gas installations and prevent sabotage and terrorist attacks on them. If a vessel comes too close to a platform and blows it can cause a lot of damage. The existing 500m safety zone leaves very little time for the company to react.
ONGC, the state-owned oil and gas exploration company has 190 offshore installations, and has asked the country's Petroleum Ministry to extend the 500m safety zone, which will now be expanded to 8km.
The extension is being supported by other oil and gas companies including Reliance Industries and Cairn India, who have major oil and gas installations on the western and eastern shores.
The 500m safety zone for offshore oil and gas installations in India's exclusive economic zone was established in 2008 and comes under the Petroleum and Natural Gas (Safety in Offshore Operations) Rules, 2008.