Oil, gas installations to carry out safety audit after IOC fire

All oil and gas installations in the country, both in the public and the private sectors, will carry out self safety audit conforming to statutory norms, including Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD) standards, by December 31.

This was among the decisions taken at a meeting called by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora here today to review the safety of oil installations in the country after the massive fire that broke out at the Indian Oil Corporation's oil depot at Sitapura in Jaipur on October 29, in which at least 12 people have died and scores were injured.

The meeting was attended by, among others, the chief executives of various oil companies, including multi-nationals.

An official press release said the oil companies would submit the reports about the audits to the OISD which, in turn, will submit a consolidated report to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

It said the decision taken at the meeting of the Safety Council on September 18 to empower the OISD with statutory status would be expedited. The OISD would be further strengthened with additional manpower from oil companies.

The release said all oil and gas companies in the country must have standard operating procedures (SOPs) for operations and maintenance practices for all their installations across the country under due technical supervision and attention.

A strict implementation of such standard operating procedure (SOPs) will be ensured. All oil and gas companies will submit reports on having SOPs and its due implementation to OISD by December 31, it said.

The meeting decided that all oil and gas installations would have their safety audit done on a quarterly basis.

All major as well as minor incidents in any such installations/setups in the country, including those of private companies, will be reported to the OISD, it said.

Mr Deora informed the meeting that IOC would pay Rs 50 crore as immediate relief to the various units in the vicinity of the depot affected by the fire. The amount would be routed through the Rajasthan Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO).

He also said that an ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh would be paid to the next of kin of those killed, Rs 2 lakh to the seriously injured and Rs 1 lakh to those with minor injuries, in addition to the compensation announced by the State Government.

The Minister said that the seven-member chaired by Mr M B Lal, former Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), set up to probe the incident would submit its report within 60 days. He said the committee had already started work and had visited Jaipur yesterday.

He also said that the Ministry would work in close coordination with the Rajasthan Government to provide medical assistance to all those who were injured in the incident.

NNN