‘Expert’ report on ONGC’s gas theft charge against RIL by June

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) had in May filed an extra-ordinary writ petition in the Delhi High Court alleging that ‘RIL has extracted gas running into approximately 18 billion cubic meters, resulting in loss of several thousand crores of rupees, from its block KG-DWN-98/2 and Godavari block (G-4) located in Krishna Godavari Basin,’ he said.

ONGC feels gas discoveries in its nomination block G4 and Block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) extends into
RIL's KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block. In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Pradhan said ONGC had requested the court to appoint an independent agency under its supervision to establish the continuity of reservoirs and to estimate the volume of gas. ‘Subsequently, ONGC and RIL, under the supervision of DGH, have appointed a third party international expert agency DeGolyer & MacNaughton, Dallas, USA to establish the continuity of reservoirs across the ONGC and RIL offshore deep water blocks/areas in KG Basin,’ he said.

D&M started its work on 25 September. ‘The report (of D&M) is likely to be submitted in June 2015,’ he added. ONGC says at least three wells drilled by RIL on the boundary of KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal are within ‘few hundred meters’ of its gas fields. It fears the fields are connected and RIL
may be drawing out its gas.

RIL disputes the ONGC theory. The two firms have shared data to collaborate on their claims.
ONGC feels RIL's wells—D6-A5, D6-A9 and D6-B8 in KG-D6 block — may be drawing gas from its gas pools called G4-2, G4-3 and D-1 as the wells have been drilled close to or on block boundary.

Incidentally, wells D6-A5, D6-A9 and D6-B8 are among the handful of wells that have remained in production since the KG-D6 block was put on production in April 2009. Half the wells on Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas field and MA oil and gas field in the KG-D6 block have shut down due to water and sand ingress, resulting in output falling to 13 mmscmd.