Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) is gearing up to substantially enhance its crude oil and gas output through the development of multiple fields, top officials said.
Though the state-run oil and gas explorer has already received approval for the development of Daman project at an investment of Rs.5,219 crore and the re-development Bombay High North project with an investment of Rs.5,707crore, it is at an advance stage to finalise the field development plan of KG-DWN-98/2 block, otherwise called KG-D5 fields off the east coast of India, which promises substantial reserves of gas and crude oil.
“We are quite bullish on that (the 98/2 block). The block should produce in mid-2018.
“In fact, the whole of the executive committee of ONGC went to Kakinada and reviewed the project. Many actions have been taken. It is a very challenging project. By 2021, we will get gas of 20 mmscmd,” D. K. Sarraf, Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC, said.
Apart from gas reserves, the field had substantial reserve of crude oil, he said. It is estimated to get 70,000-90,000 barrels of oil per day. “When we went into detail, it (oil) is there. Our team says 90,000 barrels per day is sometimes being conservative,” he added.
The operations will spread over 500 sq km in the KG basin. A project management team has been set up.
“It (the project) is still on the drawing board stage. It is yet to get the board approval, yet to get government approval, yet to get the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) approval. But, technically, there is a proof concept that it can produce so much, it can produce that fast, but all the requisite approvals are yet to be obtained,” Mr. Sarraf said.
ONGC is yet to quantify the size of investment in this filed as the Field Development Plan (FDP) is still under preparation. FDP is likely to be ready by the end of the calendar year.
“Investment will be huge. This is cluster development. There is big approximation in the cluster development. There are opportunities of putting other small, small blocks. We are going with the (stated) numbers. If there is a shortfall (due to pilferage) in estimates, we can make up for that,” Mr. Sarraf said.
Elaborating on the company’s filed development plans, T. K. Sengupta, director, offshore, ONGC, said: “Daman field is expected to produce gas by 2018. Daman and Mumbai High North should add 7 million tonnes over a period of up to 2030. Currently, Bombay High is producing 10 million tonnes a year. We will have continuous Inhibition of Return (IOR) projects to manage the decline in production at this project.”
In the last four months, the company’s board had approved two mega projects which will add to ONGC’s output.
The Daman project, expected to start production by mid-2016 would enhance production of natural gas and condensate in the Tapti Daman Block in Arabian Sea. The cumulative production till 2034-35 is pegged at 27.67 billion cubic meters of gas and 5.01 million cubic meters (MMm3) of condensate. The implementation of the Mumbai High (North) project will lead to incremental gain of 6.997 million tonne crude oil and 5.253 billion cubic metres gas by 2030. Shortly ONGC is also coming with Bombay South Development plan.
