ONGC may hire global advisor to study KG block discoveries
16 Jan 2014 5:55 AM IST
State-owned ONGC has made 11 discoveries in the deepsea KG-DWN-98/2 block, located next to Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp's Deendayal gas field.
'We do not have experience of dealing with technological, project management complexities associated with deepwater technologies. A complicated, cost-intensive project like KG-DWN-98/2 cannot be executed without external professional assistance of a very high order,' a company official said.
The consultant will study the techno-economic feasibility as well as help the company prepare a field development plan, he said, adding that it will also be asked to assist from the initial stage through commencement of production.
The consultant to be hired should have a proven track record of providing services for deepwater fields that have been successfully put into production. The block is divided into the Northern Discovery Area (NDA) and Southern Discovery Area (SDA). ONGC plans to invest $9 billion in producing from discoveries in NDA. 'We are looking at producing 2.5-3 million tons of oil (per annum) and 9-10 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from NDA,' the official said.
NDA holds an estimated 92.3 million tons of oil reserves and 97.568 billion cubic meters of in-place gas reserves spread over seven fields. The southern part of the block holds the ultra-deepsea UD-1 discovery that may hold up to 3 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
ONGC bought a 90 per cent interest in the block from Cairn India Ltd in 2005. Before selling the stake and giving away operatorship of the block, Cairn made four discoveries in the area— Padmavati, Kanakdurga, N-1 and R-1 (Annapurna).
Later, ONGC made six significant discoveries — E-1, A1, U1, W1, D-1 and KT-1 in NDA and the first ultra-deepwater discovery UD-1 at a record depth of 2,841 metres.
The NDA comprises discoveries like Padmawati, Kanadurga, D, E, U, A, while the ultra deepsea UD find lies in SDA. The official said the consultant will advise ONGC on whether a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit can be used to produce oil and gas. The KG-DWN-98/2 block, spread over 7,294.6 square kilometres, was awarded to Cairn in the first round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy in April 2000. ONGC holds 3,800.6 sq km in NDA and 3,494 sq km in SDA.
India seeks Mozambique LNG to feed gas-starved power plants
Greater Noida: After securing almost a third of a giant gas field in Mozambique, India on Wednesday pitched for buying most of the natural gas from the project to feed its starving power plants back home.
Mozambique plans to produce 34 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (natural gas turned into liquid by freezing at sub-zero temperatures) from the Rovuma Area 1 offshore block, where ONGC Videsh Ltd, Oil India Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) hold 30 per cent interest. The LNG to be produced by end of 2018 equals 136 million standard cubic meters per day of gas, 50 per cent more than India’s current gas output. Continuing to use the sidelines of the Petrotech 2014 conference to forward oil diplomacy, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily courted his Mozambique counterpart Esperanca Bias to seek a pie of the LNG. ‘We have 18,000 MW of power plants lying idle due to gas shortage and another 10,000 MW in pipeline for commissioning. We need gas and we can buy a big chunk of Mozambique LNG,’ he said.
The Mozambique minister sought to know a firm quantity that India was willing to buy but Moily only indicated an initial assessment of a requirement of 15-20 million tonnes. ‘We are working on a memorandum of understanding which will detail all these things. The MoU has been circulated and once it is finalised, I plan to travel to Mozambique for a formal signing,’ Moily said. Earlier this month, ONGC Videsh Ltd and Oil India Ltd completed the acquisition of 10 per cent stake in a giant Mozambique gas field for $2.475 billion. Additionally, OVL bought US energy major Anadarko Petroleum’s 10 per cent stake in the same block for $2.64 billion. A unit of BPCL already has 10 per cent stake in Area 1 which covers about 2.6 million acres in the deepwater Rovuma Basin and represents the largest gas discovery in offshore East Africa, with recoverable reserves estimated at 35-65 trillion cubic feet.
'We do not have experience of dealing with technological, project management complexities associated with deepwater technologies. A complicated, cost-intensive project like KG-DWN-98/2 cannot be executed without external professional assistance of a very high order,' a company official said.
The consultant will study the techno-economic feasibility as well as help the company prepare a field development plan, he said, adding that it will also be asked to assist from the initial stage through commencement of production.
The consultant to be hired should have a proven track record of providing services for deepwater fields that have been successfully put into production. The block is divided into the Northern Discovery Area (NDA) and Southern Discovery Area (SDA). ONGC plans to invest $9 billion in producing from discoveries in NDA. 'We are looking at producing 2.5-3 million tons of oil (per annum) and 9-10 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from NDA,' the official said.
NDA holds an estimated 92.3 million tons of oil reserves and 97.568 billion cubic meters of in-place gas reserves spread over seven fields. The southern part of the block holds the ultra-deepsea UD-1 discovery that may hold up to 3 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
ONGC bought a 90 per cent interest in the block from Cairn India Ltd in 2005. Before selling the stake and giving away operatorship of the block, Cairn made four discoveries in the area— Padmavati, Kanakdurga, N-1 and R-1 (Annapurna).
Later, ONGC made six significant discoveries — E-1, A1, U1, W1, D-1 and KT-1 in NDA and the first ultra-deepwater discovery UD-1 at a record depth of 2,841 metres.
The NDA comprises discoveries like Padmawati, Kanadurga, D, E, U, A, while the ultra deepsea UD find lies in SDA. The official said the consultant will advise ONGC on whether a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit can be used to produce oil and gas. The KG-DWN-98/2 block, spread over 7,294.6 square kilometres, was awarded to Cairn in the first round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy in April 2000. ONGC holds 3,800.6 sq km in NDA and 3,494 sq km in SDA.
India seeks Mozambique LNG to feed gas-starved power plants
Greater Noida: After securing almost a third of a giant gas field in Mozambique, India on Wednesday pitched for buying most of the natural gas from the project to feed its starving power plants back home.
Mozambique plans to produce 34 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (natural gas turned into liquid by freezing at sub-zero temperatures) from the Rovuma Area 1 offshore block, where ONGC Videsh Ltd, Oil India Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) hold 30 per cent interest. The LNG to be produced by end of 2018 equals 136 million standard cubic meters per day of gas, 50 per cent more than India’s current gas output. Continuing to use the sidelines of the Petrotech 2014 conference to forward oil diplomacy, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily courted his Mozambique counterpart Esperanca Bias to seek a pie of the LNG. ‘We have 18,000 MW of power plants lying idle due to gas shortage and another 10,000 MW in pipeline for commissioning. We need gas and we can buy a big chunk of Mozambique LNG,’ he said.
The Mozambique minister sought to know a firm quantity that India was willing to buy but Moily only indicated an initial assessment of a requirement of 15-20 million tonnes. ‘We are working on a memorandum of understanding which will detail all these things. The MoU has been circulated and once it is finalised, I plan to travel to Mozambique for a formal signing,’ Moily said. Earlier this month, ONGC Videsh Ltd and Oil India Ltd completed the acquisition of 10 per cent stake in a giant Mozambique gas field for $2.475 billion. Additionally, OVL bought US energy major Anadarko Petroleum’s 10 per cent stake in the same block for $2.64 billion. A unit of BPCL already has 10 per cent stake in Area 1 which covers about 2.6 million acres in the deepwater Rovuma Basin and represents the largest gas discovery in offshore East Africa, with recoverable reserves estimated at 35-65 trillion cubic feet.
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