Mumbai, November 12. A structured exercise to evaluate organisational effectiveness in protecting offshore assets was held off Mumbai on an ONGC platform 150 km into the sea on November 11. Code named Prasthan, the exercise is held twice a year under the aegis of Headquarters, Western Naval Command. It aims to assess various measures and protocols conceived to address security threats and other contingencies that may arise in offshore oil production platforms.
Various crisis situations such as attack by terrorists, bomb threat, major fire, oil spill, blow out, towing a vessel and medical evacuation were simulated during the exercise. Partner agencies such as the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Indian Coast Guard, ONGC, MbPT, the police, fisheries and customs activated their emergency procedures to deal with the contingencies.
The Indian Navy is the lead agency and has been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the oil production platforms off the coasts of India.
