india

Updated: Jun 25, 2020 22:17 IST

The supply of auto fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG), used for domestic cooking, was affected in Mumbai after a fire at the Uran plant of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

At least four people were killed in the fire on Tuesday morning.The fire that broke out around 6.30 am engulfed a large part of the plant within a few minutes. “We r extremely sad to have lost 4 precious lives—3 CISF jawans and a senior ONGC officer—in the unfortunate fire incident in Uran Plant today in spite of valiant efforts made to contain blaze in less than 2 hours time,” ONGC tweeted.

In Mumbai, nearly 7 lakh vehicles, including taxis, autorickshaws and public transport buses run on CNG fuel while 12 lakh homes have PNG connectivity. Mahanagar Gas Limited’s (MGL) supply both CNG and PNG in Mumbai Metropolitan Region. “Due to a major fire at ONGC’s gas processing facility at Uran today morning, gas supply to MGL’s city gate station at Wadala has been severely affected,” said a MGL statement.

ONGC had tweeted that gas from the Uran plant has been diverted to its unit in Gujarat’s Hazira.

A fire broke out in storm water drainage early morning 2day in Uran oil & gas processing plant.ONGC fire services & crisis managemnt team immediately pressed in2 action. Fire is being contained. No impact on Oil processing.Gas diverted to Hazira Plant. Situation is being assessed — ONGC (@ONGC_) September 3, 2019

MGL also informed that some CNG pumps are shut due to the supply problem though they are maintaining PNG supply with priority. “MGL is ensuring that supply to its domestic PNG consumers would be maintained on priority without interruption. However, many CNG stations, across Mumbai may not operate due to low pressure in the pipeline,” the statement added.

Industrial and commercial customers have been advised to switch to alternative fuel. “Gas supplies across MGL’s network will normalize once the supply of natural gas from ONGC is restored,” said MGL.

Last month too, CNG and PNG supply in Mumbai was hit for few days due to some technical issue at ONGC plant.