India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on hand to mark the first shipment of crude from a big new offshore field.
The leader waved off Shipping Corp of India’s 73,400-dwt LR1 Swarnu Sindhu (built 2010) at a ceremony in Bihar.
The vessel took the first cargo from the floating production, storage and offloading vessel Armada Sterling V at the deepwater Krishna Godavari field 22 km off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.
Oil company ONGC called this a “historic achievement in India’s energy sector”.
“At its peak production, this project will add 7% each to India’s oil and gas production,” the producer added.
AIS data showed the tanker heading to Mangalore on Tuesday.
The first oil was pumped by the FPSO in January.
The field has been developed with an investment of more than INR 410bn ($4.94bn).
Total envisaged peak oil output will be 45,000 barrels per day.
ONGC said the field promises to significantly reduce the country's dependence on energy imports.
The Armada Sterling V is owned by Bumi Armada of Malaysia.
The FPSO was built in 2001 as the 298,500-dwt VLCC Berge Ariake for John Fredriksen’s SFL Corp.
The unit is on a 10-year charter to ONGC, signed in 2023 after its conversion into an FPSO in 2022.
