ONGC and bp have agreed to consider oil and gas exploration partnerships in India and internationally.
The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) Feb. 10 at the India Energy Week event in New Delhi.
Potential areas identified for collaboration include deepwater exploration; enhancing production and optimizing management of ONGC’s maturing fields; and joint bids for offshore acreage offered in India’s open acreage licensing program rounds, alongside their respective partners.
The MoU, which runs for three years, also covers collaboration in other areas such as carbon sequestration.
In addition, the two companies signed a contract confirming the appointment of bp as technical services provider for the Mumbai High oil field offshore western India. ONGC will retain ownership and operational control of the field.
The two parties will work together to stem the field’s current production decline and identify opportunities to restore growth. Over a period of two years, bp will receive a fixed fee for its deployed personnel, followed by further payment related to incremental oil and gas production.
It plans to improve oil recovery by first performing reviews of subsurface models, followed by system optimizations and enhanced reservoir management. bp expects to have a technical team in place to start work by March. Both companies have already put in place senior and joint management teams.
In its latest trading update, ONGC said that following commissioning in December 2024 of five oil wells on the P-field in deepwater Block KG-DWN-98/2 offshore eastern India, a total of 13 cluster-II wells are now producing about 35,000 bbl/d. Two of these, G-2-2 and Kanakdurga in the Cluster-II PML area of KG-DWN-98/2 Block, are among the group put on production.
