Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ensures meeting of safety conditions before it hires vessels for exploration purposes. Company’s operations are wide spread in Western Offshore in the Arabian Sea and requires many services for exploration and production activities.
ONGC has recently floated a tender to hire one tanker for its operations in the offshore for transporting HFHSD (High Flash High Speed Diesel) from Indian ports. The fuel to be shipped is required by the installations of ONGC for smooth operations to explore and produce crude oil and natural gas.
“As per tender provisions, all certificates needed to establish technical suitability of offered tanker for intended purpose and ownership are required to be submitted along with the bid,” said an ONGC official.
Certain certificates like classification have defined validity as per rules of issuing authority/agency and require to be periodically renewed by taking up due inspections, fee payments etc. Tender provisions require such certificates/documentation for the vessel to be produced at the time of “Third Party Inspection” before deployment.
“Verifying these certificates at the time of bid submission would require bidders to keep such certificates valid at all time, irrespective of their winning the contract. Such provision may result in restricting competitiveness in the tender,” the official said.
ONGC always ensures that all the required certificates including insurance are in place and valid before deployment of any vessel/ship/tanker. Deployment of tanker/vessel is made after stringent Third Party Inspection to ensure its sea worthiness, safety of the tanker/vessel and the crew. Submission of these certificates before deployment of tanker/vessel poses no risk.
