One of the major chinks in the development of India’s oil and gas sector is a shortage of divers.
Low pay, lack of training facilities major reasons for this shortage
MUMBAI: Make a splash to see a missing link in the country’s infrastructure story. One of the major chinks in the development of India’s oil and gas sector is a shortage of divers.
At present, there are some 1,500 air, mixed gas and saturation divers in the country servicing major companies like ONCG, Cairn India, Oil India Ltd, Essar Oil, etc.
But according to Satpal Singh, joint managing director, Dolphin Offshore, the only firm that provides diving services to oil companies, “India will require the services of another 1,500-2,000 divers for carrying out work like drilling, laying of pipelines and platforms, inspection, maintenance, installation of jackets, etc”.
The lack of training facilities and lower pay packets are the twin villains responsible for this shortage. Small wonder then that many Indian divers are migrating abroad.
“Since the past few years, almost 30% of Indian divers have been going to work in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Gulf and Thailand. From last year, regions like the Mediterranean, North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Caspian Sea have also started attracting Indian divers,” says Singh.
In India, an air diver (a fresher who dives up to 50 mt under water) gets about Rs 2,500 a day. Air divers graduate to become mixed gas divers (when they have to dive up to 70 mt) and earn between Rs 4,000-6,000 a day and then they become saturation divers (where they need to dive beyond 70 mt).
But with India not having mixed and saturation training facilities, air divers have to be send abroad for further training.
Worse still, the only training institute in the country, at Kochi, is seen more as a Naval training institute. “Fourteen trainees are taken at a time and the training lasts for about 10 weeks. So in a year, about 84 people are trained to become air divers, of which the Indian Navy takes nearly 80%,” says Singh.
Says Jai Thappa, a former diver, “The salary abroad is steeper with a fresher getting about $100 a day.”
“Saturation diving is where most of the oil and gas activity happens and these divers are engaged in inspection and rigging. They earn something like $375 a day,” says Singh.
Also, overseas jobs help India divers save a lot on taxes.
At Dolphin, the limited capacity prevents the institute from taking in more individuals at a stipulated time. Globally, too, the scene is far from encouraging.
There are two diving schools in the UK, one in Australia, one in Africa and one in Norway.
To work out some kind of a solution, Dolphin is in talks with the Centre to set up an institute for research and (saturation) diving operations in Tamil Nadu.
“We have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Underwater Centre, a British company where Indian divers are trained, and this company will provide us with technical support,” says Singh.
Dolhin has also received support from the Norwegian government for undertaking underwater research.
“Approximately $25 million would be needed for setting up this institute and we are currently in talks with some oil companies like ONGC for funding this venture,” says Singh.
g_priyanka@dnaindia.net
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