MUMBAI, Nov 2: Seven institutes of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation will, from November 14, offer their services under a single roof operating from Mumbai and New Delhi. The new arrangement is being undertaken with an objective of integrating and creating the much-needed synergies between these institutes which presently operate from Ahmedabad, Dehradun, Goa and Mumbai.

The clubbing of services from one point will supplement the present system of working out of individual centres of the ONGC, sources say. It will ensure that the corporation will be able to avail itself of the growing opportunities to provide consultancy services in the upstream hydrocarbons sector. The exercise will strive to transform ONGC's institutes into globally recognised platforms through exposure at national and international levels. This will also translate as more revenue and will considerably boost the earning potential of ONGC.

The seven institutes which offer a variety of services in the upstream sector are the KDM Institute of Petroleum Exploration in Dehradun; Institute of Reservoir Studies, Ahmedabad; Geodata Processing and Interpretation Centre, Dehradun; Institute of Drilling Technology, Dehradun; Institute of Petroleum Safety and Environment Management, Goa; Institute of Engineering and Ocean Technology, Panvel (near Mumbai) and the Institute of Oil and Gas Production Technology, Panvel. Each of these institutes has its services to offer, both here and abroad. The only obstacle is that as they are situated in four different centres which often leads to needless waste of time and resources and, consequently, losing a prized contract. To prevent this from happening, the parent organisation, ONGC, has evolved a strategy of centralising operations from Mumbai and Delhi.

"These two cities were chosen because of their strategic importance. Now, a potential customer need not run from pillar to post," sources said. The Institute of Oil and Gas Production Technology at Panvel will house the Mumbai office while the premises of ONGC's Delhi headquarters will be used for the new marketing centre. Each of these offices will have representatives from different institutes to facilitate easy reference and quick decision making. For the time being, only Delhi and Mumbai have been considered to meet the need of centralising operations but if the need arises, other cities could be included. "Expanding the gamut of services is presently not a feasible option and ONGC will confine itself to extending services from these two cities," sources said.

The new arrangement is expected to "work wonders" for the corporation what with the number of companies planning to come to India for exploration activities through joint ventures. It would work as well in the reverse with these institutes stepping up operations in a big way abroad, especially in the CIS countries. Each of them has a wealth of experience in the upstream sector. For instance, the Institute of Petroleum Exploration has worked on fields in Abu Dhabi and Malaysia and has carried out local assignments for Oil India in Rajasthan and Assam. The Institute of Reservoir Studies has done work for ONGC Videsh (the overseas arm of ONGC) in Syria and Malaysia while the Institute of Drilling Technology is familiar with Bangladesh and plans a joint venture in Yemen with the Yemen Oil and Gas Company.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.