to help ONGC operate it. Under this agreement, the Commission's scientists and engineers were trained in the U.S. and West Asian countries in various aspects of offshore drilling. In the beginning, Sagar Samra! faced many problems. At its first location, the seabed's "soil" was too soft and the vessel's legs penetrated far deeper than the permissible limit of 18 meters. Three other locations were tried and abandoned. The vessel was then moved off Tarapur, and a well was drilled there. But there were other snags. High underground pressures built up and rocks caved in. On the advice of Offshore International and another American firm, Drilling Well Control Incorporated, the well was plugged. Sagar Samra! was moved back to the Bombay High and successfully jacked up. Sagar Samra! first struck oil on the Bombay High on February 19, 1974. Commercial production began only two years later-on May 21, 1976. Oilmen the world over congratulated the ONGC on its remarkable achievement: a mere two years between first strike and commercial production. (In the North Sea, where Britain is drilling for oil, the gap between first strike and commercial production was eight years !) At present oil flows from four "production wells" in the Bombay High-saving India thousands of dollars every day. And oil has been struck in as many as 11 of 13wells drilled in the Bombay High, in two of three wells drilled in North Bassein (between the Bombay High and the port of Bombay), and in a "fault" structure east of the Bombay High. Natural gas has been struck in South Bassein. The "pools of oil" evidently stretch a long distance, says India's Minister for Petroleum, K.D. Malaviya.
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But striking oil is one thing; establishing commercial flow is another. Normally, when explorers strike oil, they drill a series of wells to evaluate the full potential of the field; then they draw up a development plan for commercial production. ONGC decided, however, to telescope exploration¡ and production-to develop a promising portion of the Bombay High oilfield to ensure early oil and cash flow without waiting to explore the whole field. This step was
fraught with risks. Establishing commercial production is enormously expensive, and if the full field does not "hold" oil in ample quantities, development of a part of that field is wasteful. But ONGC took this calculated risk, since the need for oil was urgent. What this goal entailed was formidable. More rigs would have to be acquired; an elaborate engineering complex would have to be set up in the sea-platforms to drill production wells and to process oil, tankers to store it, pipelines to transport it. The technology for all this would have to be hired from abroad at great cost. The task was made more stupendous by the deadline set before the ONGC for commercial production-May 1976. The Commission consulted two experienced international firms-Geoman, a subsidiary of Gulf Oil, Houston, and C.F.P. of France-and devised a strategy for quick commercial production that would reach two million tons a year by early 1977 and increase gradually to about 10 million tons a year by¡1980. To meet the deadline for commercial production, ONGC engineers and managers worked like men possessed. Red tape was eliminated, decisions were taken on the spot. Top ONGC experts jetted round the world chartering rigs and hiring consultancy services. The Commission hired a subsidiary of J. Ray McDermott of New Orleans to design, fabricate and manufacture production platforms. (A production platform contains pumps; compressors; boilers; heat exchangers; a great deal of instrumentation; tubulars; storage tanks; equipment to separate oil and gas; and many minor components.) ONGC asked Engineers India Ltd. (ElL), a public sector concern in India, to monitor and supervise McDermott's work. ElL, in turn, hired an American consultant, Crest Engineering of Oklahoma, to help oversee McDermott's designs and fabrication. ONGC hired divers from Oceaneering International of the U.S. and Comex of France to check subsea installations. An 88,OOO-tonoil tanker, lawaharlal Nehru, was chartered from the Shipping Corporation ofIndia to temporarily store the crude pumped from the offshore wells. All these contracts were finalized within two months. The pace of activity was
'In oil exploration, it is men rather than machinery that determine the success ratio .... Oil is found in the minds of men.'
frenzied. Many problems cropped updelays in the collection of soil data, leaks in the pipelines, cyclonic weather that damaged drilling rigs. The men on the spot were given complete authority to solve problems that arose. Telephone calls would go out now and then to Singapore, where many U.S. offshore companies have a base. An American engineer would be in Bombay the following morning: He would be met at Santa Cruz airport, flown to the vessel in the sea, flown back in the evening to the airport, and thence to Singapore .. "That's the speed of offshore oil exploration," says H.P. Aranha, ONGC's director of technical services. "There's no time to waste. A day lost may be a few million dollars lost." The physical strain on ONGC's oilmen can be cruel. One senior technical officer fell severely ill just during that dizzy period before commercial production. But since his advice was needed on matters of great import and urgency, he worked from his sickbed. Finally, on May 21, 1976, crude flowed into the Jawaharlal Nehru from a production well. It was a proud moment for the ONGC, a moment that won high praise from the oil industry all over the ,world. W.H. Loomis, drilling superintendent of Offshore International, says the success of the Bombay offshore operation is a result of "efficient planning." He feels that the ONGC has "some very capable people." "I can really speak with authority about the drillers," he says, "and the Indian drillers can now handle the most sophisticated machinery without any assistance." Loomis has worked offshore in Africa, the Middle East and South America. "We trained British engineers in the North Sea, now they do much of the work themselves. We are glad to have helped India's oil exploration program."
He recalls that when Sagar Samrat first came to India, there were 28 American experts on board. Now there are just fourtwo tool pushers, a barge engineer, and himself. What does he remember most about his experience in Bombay High? "Our working there throughout the monsoon. I don't recall having done that anywhere else." A.M. Giroir, Offshore International's jack-up expert, says the soil penetration problem baffled them initially. "We were finally able to beat it." Another difficulty he encountered was that of supplies for the vessel. Spares had to come from the U.S. and sometimes there were delays. Giroir said the capabilities of ONGC technicians have "improved 100 per cent in three years." He added: "They can now run the show themselves."
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The Bombay High gave India new hope at a time when its onshore effort-no new oilfield after 1964- had generated a lot of pessimism. And the output of the Bombay High is phenomenal. Some onshore wells yield only 100 barrels a day; but a single Bombay High well produces more than 4,000 barr~ls a day. Bombay High crude oil is "sweet" -low in sulfur. It is rich in aromatics, hence can feed several aromatics-based industries such as synthetic fibers and plastics. It yields gasoline and middle distillates in high quantities, though not heavier products like asphalt and bitumen. There's a proposal to mix Bombay High light crude with heavy crude from West Asia to secure optimum benefits. Gas is also produced from Bombay High-150,000 cubic meters per day at present. A part of it is used to power the drilling platform, the rest is "flared" or burnt out, since pipelines to transport gas haven't been built yet. By 1980, Bombay High could yield as much as three million cubic meters of gas per day. It could feed fertilizer plants, eliminate cooking gas shortages, help establish petrochemical industries. And gas is a clean fuel. In the context of the drive for a cleaner Bombay, the availability of gas is extremely significant. Says Dr. Gopal Ramaswamy, chief of ONGC's offshore operations: "The most immediate task at the Bombay High is to ensure that gas isn't flared but used. Gas
flaring is inevitable in the initial stages of oil production anywhere in the world, but we want to minimize the waste." The ONGC has expansion plans for the Bombay High. A British firm has prepared a feasibility report on the construction of pipelines to the coast; a Dutch pipe-laying barge now under construction is to be used to lay the pipeline. The Commission is acquiring 283. hectares of land from the Maharashtra Government in Nava Sheva, near New Bombay. This land will serve as an offshore supply base, as an oil terminal to receive crude from pipelines, and as a fabrication yard for production platforms. The ONGC is an organization in a hurry. Its chairman, Dr. N.H. Prasad, and other top experts work incredibly long hours. But Dr. Prasad exudes calm. He weighs his words; he has statistics at his fingertips. Dr. Prasad says that by 1981-82, one can expect ONGC's offshore oil production to be about 13 million tons and its onshore production about eight million tons. India would still need to import oil, but self-sufficiency may be possible around 1985. How rich is India in oil? Is some sensational new discovery possible? Could India ever be a major oil exporter? "One can't predict discoveries," says Dr. Prasad. "But at the present time we are thinking only in terms of self-sufficiency, not in terms of export." He believes that India needs all the oil it can find. Is the ONGC chairman ever apprehensive of his organization becoming unwieldy? (It has a staff strength of 23,000.) "No," he says emphatically. "I don't look upon my staff as 'problems,' but as 'resources.' We know how to put our human resources to good use." He adds that ONGC has decentralized all its operations. "Paper work or need for approval never holds up decisions." Talking about human resources, Dr. Prasad recalls the saying: "Oil is found in the minds of men." He adds: "In oil exploration, it is men rather than machinery that determine the success ratio." Reviewing the current status of exploration, Dr. Prasad says that besides Bombay High and Bassein-which are proven oilfields-other offshore areas are being explored. The ONGC is carrying out
extensive seismic surveys, with its sophisticated American-built vessel Anweshak. Of the 250,000 square kilometers of "shelf area" in India-water up to a depth of 200 meters-nearly 100,000 square kilometers have been covered by marine seismic work. While the spotlight in recent months has been on offshore exploration, ONGC's landlubbers have been busy too. The Commission's geologists are poring over old maps, reconsidering abandoned prospects, speeding the pace of exploration. Drilling has been intensified in Assam and inJammu and Kashmir. Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are being probed again. "We now have better seismic tools, our rigs can go deeper, we can handle higher pressures," Dr. Prasad says. Areas currently being explored include Ramshahr and Jwalamukhi in Himachal, Parewa in Uttar Pradesh, Narsapur in Andhra. The ONGC is expanding and modernizing its equipment. It is importing deepdrilling rigs from the U.S., the U.S.S.R. and Romania for onshore exploration, and it is chartering rigs for offshore work. It has also undertaken a large importsubstitution program. It has won eight national awards for import substitutionfor such inventions as the seismic amplifierand the cable fault detector. One of the most fascinating stories at ONGC is the new direction it is giving to Indian industry by encouraging new lines
of production. A number of public sector undertakings have taken up the challenge of producing sophisticated goods for oil exploration. Bharat Heavy Electricals, for example, is manufacturing deep-drilling rigs in collaboration with an American firm. The first of seven rigs will be delivered to ONGC in 1977. Other major suppliers to ONGC are Bharat Pumps and Compressors (mud pumps of different capacities), Electronics Corporation of India (digital seismographs and well-logging equipment), Atomic Energy Commission (drill pipes), and Steel Authority of India (tubulars). The. material requirements of offshore exploration are "staggering in their magnitude and diversity," says P.K. Lahiri, chief of ONGC's materials department. "These vary from giant floating drilling rigs and tankers to small supply and crew vessels. They include production and drilling platforms made up of thousands of tons of fabricated steel, special subsea pipelines, and a host of items too numerous to mention." While most of these items are currently being imported, an indigenous capacity is being built up. D.K. Ahuja, superintending mechanical engineer, who heads the ONGC's imports'ubstitution group, describes how the Commission persuades private companies to work for it. "Take spares for imported cranes, for example. Indian companies don't manufacture them. We offer to bear
the cost of development, and to ensure them business for two to three years. We get the spares we want."
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Outside of Sagar Samrat and the other "vessels" operating in the Ara bian Sea, the most impressive aspect of the ONGC is its research laboratories in Dehra Dun-an electronic wonderland full of new machinery, most of it imported from the U.S. Particularly remarkable is the computer center, where a large room stores an IBM computer, hundreds of spools of computer tape and a repository of precious data on India's oil-bearing potential. The research labs belong to the Institute of Petroleum Exploration (IPE), which is the Commission's research arm. The institute, one of the biggest of its kind in the world, has won international recognition as a center of research in petroleum exploration. At work here are experts in a dozen scientific disciplines. The institute designs and develops new instruments, carries out laboratory studies in geoscience, draws up plans to develop discovered oilfields. The IPE prepared a tectonic map of India in 1968; one of its crowning achievements is the Oil and Natural Gas Map of Asia and the Far East (1973), prepared for the ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). Set up in 1963, IPE now has five divisions-basin studies, instrumentation, research and development, exploration, data processing. IPE will complete some 50 research projects during the next three years. These projects are concerned with better drilling methods, improvements in the acquisition, processing and interpretation of seismic data. In the IPE's young and talented scientists-and in the ONGC's energetic explorers for oil on land and sea-one discerns a strong sense of commitment to work. No wonder. For they help discover oil-the wonderful commodity that lights villages and cities, drives cars and buses and trains and planes, produces fertilizer for crops, turns machines for industry, helps manufacture thousands of products for millions ofIndians. Oil is power- but it is the intrepid scientists and explorers, in India and other countries, who find this power. As Dr. Prasad so aptly quoted: "Oil is found in 0 the minds of men."
FOLK ART
Housewives make them, museums hang them, co-ops market them, artists marvel at their bold designs, and Americans throughout the country rediscover the colorful beauty of old-fashioned quilts. We live in an age of technology and mass product~on. Yet even in the United States, more and more Americans are reviving the folk arts and crafts of yesteryear. One of these revivals is the unpretentious art of quilt-making. In colonial and 19th-century America, women of all ages would get together for "quilting bees" - parties where the hostess would serve tea and light snacks, and friends would come to help her sew the latest quilt. After the industrial boom of the 1880s, quilts were gradually replaced by machine-woven, factory-produced coverlets. But quilt-making never died out in the rural United States. Today, however, urban American housewives (right) are rediscovering the joys of the quilting bee and the pleasures and profits of quilting. So strong is the trend, in fact, that women who have never sewn a stitch are now attending classes to learn how to make quilts. And a manufacturer of quilt filling reports booming pattern sales to seamstresses. In some instances, women are banding together to market their product. "Mountain Artisans," a five-year-old quilting cooperative in West Virginia, has 140 members piecing together quilts. The women work in groups like the old quilting bees; they stitch designs made by a local artist, Dorothy Weatherford, who has won a top U.S. award for her patchwork creations. "I take the women's initial concept and twist it a little," she says. "I maintain some control, but there is an element of randomness."
Mountain Artisans Cooperativehas even opened a showroom in New York, which handles their nationwide distribution. Last year the co-op grossed half a million dollars in sales. One of their steady customers is Mrs. John D. Rockefeller IV, who has decorated her home with the co-op's quilts (see photo on front cover). The success of Mountain Artisans has spawned similar groups throughout the United States. In California, a quilting co-op creates free-form coverlets with batiks and tie-dyes. Last summer New York City, which always thinks big, invited everybody to Central Park "to patch the longest quilt in the world." The quilting revival has engendered new uses for what was once merely a bed covering. Americans now buy quilts for tablecloths, or to hang on walls like tapestries. In short, the once humble quilt is now recognized as a work of art, and people have been flocking to quilt exhibitions in the U.S. and in Europewhere the fad is also spreading. Prices of old quilts have risen tenfold. "There's nothing so chic as a good old antique American quilt," says a top U.S. designer. Quilts were originally made for a utilitarian purpose-to keep sleepers warm. American housewives often owned many quilted coverlets, five or six for each bed. The warmth comes from the filling-wool, cotton or layers of rags-which is inserted between the top and bottom covers of the quilt and held in place with small run-
ning stitches. Today, dacron is generally used as filler. The beauty of the quilt is in its top cover. In the simplest form of quilt, the top cover is a solidcolor fabric in which the artistry lies only in the elaborate pattern of the quilting stitches. A more complex form of top cover is made by cutting designs from other fabrics and sewing them on to the solid-color background fabric; this is called an appliqued quilt. The real glory of American quilt-making, however, is the "patchwork quilt" in which hundreds of different fragments and scraps of old fabric of every color and pattern are cut and seamed together to make the top cover. This often results in colorful patterns that dazzle the eye with visual effects as sophisticated as some of the works produced by today's leading abstract artists (see pages 22-23). Some old quilts were so elaborate that they took years to complete. A quilt about nine square meters might have more than 1,000 pieces, cut from 20 or 30 fabrics, sewn together with thousands of meters of stitches, each only about onesixth of a centimeter long. To lavish such time and precision crafting on a bedcover suggests a starvation for art. Life was hard for early American women. They helped their husbands clear the land and till the soil. They tended their homes and raised big families. Their material possessions were few and functional. Quilts brought into their homes the color and artistry they craved. Some American immigrant
groups put a distinctive stamp on their quilts. The conservative Amish sect, for instance, seldom used figured fabrics. Instead, to tease the eye, they would insert a few patches of an alien colorviolet where purple should be, soft pink in place of hot pink. The black women of coastal South Carolina made-and still make-strip quilts reminiscent of the kente cloth of the West African Ashanti tribe. The Pennsylvania Dutch created the most riotously colorful quilts of the colonial period. To the women of 18th- and 19th- century America, however, a quilt was something more than a functional bed cover and a work of art. It was a symbol of family life, a repository of memories. One contemporary collector records her great-grandmother's recollections of making one quilt. "It took me more than 20 years, nearly 25, I reckon, in the evening after supper when the children were all put to bed. My whole life is in that quilt. All my joys and all my sorrows are stitched into those little pieceswhen I was proud of the boys and when I was downright provoked with them; when the girls annoyed me or when they gave me a warm feeling around my heart; and John too, he was stitched into that quilt and all the 30 years we were married. Sometimes I loved him and sometimes I sat there hating him as I pieced the patches together. So they are all in that quilt, my hopes and fears, my joys and sorrows, my loves and hates. I tremble sometimes when I think what that quilt knows about me."