Tatanet, a division of Nelco, a connectivity solutions provider, has bagged an order from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), to enhance the communication infrastructure of their Western Offshore site. The Rs 41.6 crore order will augment voice and data communication between ONGC’s offshore installations and its base station office in Mumbai and provide a back-up network for the existing C band Satellite network.

The Western Offshore oil and gas field bears large producing assets of ONGC. The rapid development in TCP/ IP technology and usage of Internet and mail has increased the requirement of satellite bandwidth at offshore locations. The new network solution from Tatanet is aimed to provide additional communication bandwidth for present and upcoming voice and data applications, as well as establish a back-up to their existing C-band satellite link.

The proposed KU-band based network will be an integrated satellite network with a complete solution for broadband IP connectivity, providing Quality of Services (QoS) on an end-to-end basis. Tatanet will provide connectivity via VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) to over 34 offshore and seven onshore locations. The offshore locations include 13 process complexes, nine rigs and five MSVS; while the onshore locations include a captive hub at ONGC’s base office in Mumbai and a Disaster Recovery (DR) hub at Chennai, apart from other sites.

Aside from the satellite connectivity, HF/ VHF sets will be deployed for long distance and voice/ telex communication with the base and vessels, and Aero VHF sets for communication with helicopters. INMARSAT terminals will also be deployed at all offshore locations to provide additional voice facility.
The scope of the order includes design, engineering, supply, installation, commissioning, integration and project management for establishing the network.