ONGC Seeks Nod for Tapping Gas

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) of India on Thursday sought the government nod to drill eight additional/appraisal wells in its gas discovery block (KG-DWN-98/2) in the Krishna-Godavari Basin off the Andhra coast.

The block is estimated to contain 25.61 million tonne of oil and 197 billion cubic metres of natural gas and ONGC has pegged an investment of more than $7.7 billion to produce around 30 million standard cubic metres of gas per day from the block where it has made ten discoveries.

"ONGC has requested the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (and) Directorate General of Hydrocarbons to permit it to drill eight additional exploratory/appraisal wells in block KG-DWN-98/2 and extend the exploration period for drilling these wells," minister of state for petroleum & natural gas R P N Singh told the parliament.

The state-run company had approached the government last year to declare its UD-1 ultra deep-sea gas discovery in the southern part of the block as commercial to enable it to develop the find, the minister said.

ONGC which purchased 90% stake of the block from Cairn Energy India Ltd in 2005, made six significant discoveries (E-1, A1, U1, W1, D-1/KT-1) on top of the four discovered by Cairn, which now holds the balance. The six also included the first ultra-deepwater discovery UD-1, at a record depth of 2,841 metres.

The four discoveries made by Cairn are Padmavati, Kanakdurga, N-1 and R-1 (Annapurna).

The block is presently divided into two areas - Northern Discovery Area (NDA) comprising Padmawati, Kanadurga, D, E, U and A, while Southern Discovery Area (SDA) the ultra deep-sea UD find.

Source: moneycontrol.com