After several employees tested positive for Covid-19, India's ONGC has stopped operating two offshore drilling rigs at its major Mumbai High and Bassein areas. The company is operating the remaining 34 rigs in the areas and the temporary closure has not affected production.
The fields off India's west coast are ONGC's biggest producing assets. Mumbai High produces around 12 million m³/d of gas and 170,000 b/d of crude. The Bassein or Vasai area produces 32 million m³/d of gas and 60,000 b/d of oil.
ONGC's crude production fell by 2 percent from a year earlier to around 406,000 b/d, according to oil ministry figures. Natural gas production declined by 13 percent to 58 million m³/d over the same period, as a fall in demand because of India's Covid-19 lockdown caused ONGC to shut some offshore wells.
The company has reduced planned spending in April 2020 to March 2021 financial year by 15 percent to 275 billion rupees ($3.6 billion) from the Rs325 billion it originally budgeted.
