Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has received Rs 864 crore (Rs 8.64 billion) in final settlement of an insurance claim for the oil facility at Mumbai High that was gutted in a fire in July 2005.

The Mumbai High North platform in the Arabian Sea was destroyed in a fire on July 27, 2005. It produced 110,000 barrels of crude oil per day, accounting for 21 per cent of the company's total output.

ONGC's insurance claim for the platform was settled in full by United India Insurance, the company said in a press release. In all, ONGC got about Rs 1,700 crore (Rs 17 billion) in insurance claims for the accident.

The company chairman and managing director "R S Sharma received a cheque of Rs 864 crore towards the final payment of all insurance claims in respect of Mumbai High North accident", it said.

The accident took place on July 27 2005, causing a major fire which totally destroyed the platform, while Multipurpose Support Vessel (MSV) 'Samudra Surkasha', which sustained major damages, sank on August 2, 2005.

The heat and smoke of BHN fire partially affected other installations like BHF platform, interconnecting bridges of MNW and BHF platform as well as sub-sea pipelines.

ONGC's offshore properties damaged in the above accident were insured with United India Insurance Company under ONGC's Offshore Package Insurance Policy for 2005-06 Policy year against all risk of physical damage/loss.

As MHN platform was totally destroyed by the fire, ONGC lodged a claim for MHN's full insured value $195.08 million, excluding the policy deductible of $20 million on August 10, 2005, the release said.