VZCZCXYZ0010
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNE #7106/01 2890940
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160940Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEAHLC/HQ ICE IAO WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9546

UNCLAS NEW DELHI 007106 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOC FOR 532/OEA/M. NICKSON-DORSEY/L. RITTER 
USDOC FOR 3131/USFCS/OIO/ANESA/KREISSL 
USDOC FOR 4530/MAC/ANESA/OSA 
ICE HQ FOR STRATEGIC INVESTIGATIONS 
STATE FOR EB/ESP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC ETRD BEXP IN
SUBJECT: EXTRANCHECK: POST-SHIPMENT VERIFICATION: OIL AND NATURAL 
GAS CORP. LTD., KOLKATA, LICENSE NO. D347565. 
 
REF: USDOC 04980 
 
¶1.  Unauthorized disclosure of the information provided below is 
prohibited by Section 12(c) of the Export Administration Act. 
 
¶2.  Export Control Officer (ECO) Michael Rufe and BIS FSN Kavita 
Vijh conducted a Post-shipment Verification (PSV) at Oil and Natural 
Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC), Kolkata, on October 12, 2006. 
 
¶3.  BIS requested a PSV at ONGC, a Public Sector undertaking.  ONGC 
was listed as the ultimate consignee and end-user for one Model 
Altix 3700 BX2 Upgrade/Reconfigure to two existing Altix 3700 
controlled under ECCN 4A003.  CMS Computers Ltd. (CMS) was listed as 
the Foreign Purchaser.  The license applicant was Silicon Graphics 
Inc. (SGI), Mountain view, CA. 
 
¶4.  Rufe met for approximately 2.5 hours with M. Das (Das), Deputy 
General Manager-Incharge Regional Computer Center, Himadri Ghose 
(Ghose), Chief Geophysicist(s), Ashok Kumar Diwakar (Diwakar), Chief 
Engineer (E&T), Padmini Kavikondala (Kavikondala), Executive 
Engineer (E&T), and Amit Kar (Kar), Supretending Engineer, ONGC. 
The meeting was facilitated by Deputy Secretary (AMS) Viraj Singh 
(Singh), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), GOI.  Singh was also 
present at the meeting. 
 
¶5.  This was the first USG or BIS official visit to ONGC's Regional 
Computer Center (RCC) in Kolkata.  ONGC officials were aware of the 
BIS export license conditions.  They provided a copy of the ONGC 
Purchase Order, CMS Tax Invoice, ONGC's End-Use statement, Nuclear 
Certificate, Remote Access statement, High Performance Computer 
(HPC) Security & Safeguard Plan (SSP), Form BIS-711, SGI Shipping 
Invoice, SGI Packing Slip, SGI Comprehensive EPCI, End-Use and 
Remote Access Statements, list of Riders and Conditions apply to 
Export License D347565 and SGI System Installation Report. 
 
¶6.  Das gave a brief overview of ONGC and its various activities. 
Das stated on January 1, 2005, ONGC issued only one Purchase Order 
to CMS for an Altix 3700 BX2 system with 32 processors.  On May 31, 
2005, ONGC received the shipment in two parts, 24 processors and 8 
processors.  SGI's shipping invoice dated March, 24, 2005 to CMS 
confirms the same listing ECCN 4A994 and NLR for each.  The ONGC 
officials had no idea why they received the shipment in two parts. 
On July 15,2005, SGI partitioned the 24 processors and 8 processors 
during installation. On September 27, 2005, ONGC requested SGI 
connect the 24 processors with the 8 processors into shared memory 
as originally requested in their purchase order. Only at that stage 
did SGI inform ONGC that they would require a license from DOC to 
upgrade/reconfigure the system into 32 processors.  On January 20, 
2006, SGI provided license approval documents and license conditions 
for ONGC signature. On January 26, 2006, SGI informed that they had 
received the license approval from DOC. ONGC then had CMS integrate 
the 32 CPUs.  During this period, all 32 CPUs were lying unused in 
ONGC's computer room. 
 
¶7. Das confirmed the stated end-use of the SGI Altix 3700 
32-processor server installed in the RCC.  The system has been 
installed mainly for processing of seismic data.  The seismic data 
acquired by ONGC (offshore as well as onshore) is brought to RCC's 
Processing Section in magnetic storage devices.  The data is then 
processed using Time and Depth application software (Focus & 
Geodepth) from Paradigm Geophysical, Australia.  Once a project is 
loaded in the system, consisting of Terabytes of data, the job 
submitted can run for months.  The seismic data processed from this 
system is then handed over to the Interpretation Section of the RCC. 
 It is a stand-alone server. 
 
¶8. Das stated that the RCC runs in three shifts.  They are using an 
existing Security Safeguard Plan (SSP) to safeguard access to the 
computer system and have included an access plan whereby login 
passwords are given only to eight ONGC Geophysicists including the 
systems administrator.  The Altix 3700 server and computer terminals 
connected to it are operating in a secure area.  ONGC maintains a 
usage log.  After the meeting the ECO was given a brief tour of the 
computer room and was able to record the server's serial number. 
 
¶9. Established in 1956, ONGC has been instrumental in transforming 
India's limited upstream sector into a large viable playing field, 
with its activities spread throughout India and significantly in 
overseas territories. In the inland areas, ONGC found new resources 
in Assam and established new oil province in Cambay basin (Gujarat), 
while adding new petroliferous areas in the Assam-Arakan Fold Belt 
and East coast basins (both inland and offshore).  ONGC went 
offshore in early 70's and discovered a giant oil field in the form 
of Bombay High. ONGC's overseas arm ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) 
projects are spread out in Vietnam, Russia, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, 
 
 
Lybia, Syria, Myanmar, Australia, and Ivory Coast. It is further 
pursuing Oil and gas exploration blocks in Algeria, Australia, 
Indonesia, Nepal, Iran, Russia, UAE and Venezuela. 
 
¶10. ONGC's RCC in Kolkata was established in 1987, is one of six 
RCCs throughout India.  This RCC focuses mainly on processing 
offshore data for locating viable undersea oil and gas deposits. 
They employ approximately 80 personnel. 
 
¶11.  Recommendation: All indications were that the listed commodity 
is used in accordance with the terms of the export license and that 
the Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. appears to be a reliable 
recipient of sensitive U.S.-origin technology for this transaction. 
(MRUFE) Pyatt