Oil spill off the Mumbai coast

New Delhi, Jan 21 (PTI) An oil spill was reported todayoff the Mumbai coast following a rupture in a pipelinecarrying crude oil from state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp''s(ONGC) offshore oilfields.

The leakage in a pipeline carrying Mumbai High crude oilto Uran was reported around 0845 hrs and production wasimmediately stopped, a senior company official said.

"Production from the Mumbai High and Bassein oilfieldswas restarted around 0950 hrs and crude oil is beingtransported to shore using a separate line," he said.

ONGC boats and Coast Guards vessels have been pressedinto service to access the damage. "Right now it is difficultto say what the damage has been," he said.

Production from the field was stopped for a shortwhilefollowing the incident but was resumed shortly after oil flowfrom subsea wells was diverted through another line.

Mumbai High and Bassein fields together produce 247,000barrels of oil per day and the brief stoppage would mean thatthey would produce about 25,000 barrels less oil today.

The official said divers are being pressed into serviceto go down to sea-bed to access the damage to the pipeline.

"Remedial measures will follow once we know the extent ofthe oil spill," he added.