Offshore staff
NEW DELHI, India — ONGC has drawn up a comprehensive roadmap to further intensify its exploration campaign, allocating a capex of about Rs.31,000 crore in the next three fiscal years during fiscal years 2022 to 2025, according to a recent ONGC news release.
This is 150% of its exploration expenditure of Rs. 20,670 crore in the last three fiscals during fiscal years 2019 to 2022.
ONGC also plans to leverage international collaborations with reputed global majors for this, for which talks are in an advanced stage.
This exploration campaign includes activities funded through ONGC’s internal program as well as funded and facilitated by the government.
Under government-funded program for appraisal of unapprised offshore areas until Exclusive Economic Zone, 70,000 line km of 2D broadband seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation will be done in three sectors—West Coast of India, East Coast of India and Andaman offshore.
ONGC will complete the technical bid opening for seismic data acquisition by June 2022.
In the Andaman Basin, ONGC holds two blocks for exploration under Open Acreage Licensing policy(OALP). The government of India also has acquired seismic data in some sectors within ‘No-Go’ areas and few prospects are already identified. ONGC has plans to drill six wells in the next three years (two under ONGC committed work program and four through government funding). Reputed global companies/consultants are being invited for the assessment of the basin for future exploration and exploitation plan.
ONGC’s internal program has three components:
- Re-exploration of mature basins;
- Consolidation of emerging basins; and
- Probing of emerging and new basins.
Under this internal program, ONGC is trying to probe about 1,700 MMtonne of oil and oil equivalent gas of yet-to-find reserves during fiscal years 2022 to 2025. The activities here include 2D and 3D seismic surveys, followed by drilling of about 115-120 wells, with an estimated outlay of Rs. 10,000 crore every year for the next three years.
In addition, the government’s facilitation has resulted in the release of about a 96,000-sq-km area so far, which was earlier demarcated as a ‘No Go’ zone. This will further help ONGC achieve its acreage acquisition program of bringing about 5,00,000 sq km under active exploration by 2025.
05.27.2022
