Minister updates Rajya Sabha on exploration surge
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has entered into a Joint Operating Agreement with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and BP Exploration (Alpha) Limited for the exploration Block GS-OSHP-2022/2.
This Block in located off the western coast in Saurashtra basin and was awarded to RIL, ONGC and BP as part of Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy. Parties will pursue exploration operation in the Block pursuant to the terms of award of the Block http://commerce.nic.in.
Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India is witnessing a renewed surge in oil and gas exploration, particularly in offshore regions, underscoring the country’s vast untapped hydrocarbon potential http://mopng.gov.in.
The opening of nearly one million square kilometres of erstwhile ‘No-Go’ offshore areas in 2022 has been a landmark development, he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on 29 July.
“This move has unlocked significant exploration frontiers, especially in deepwater and frontier regions such as the Andaman-Nicobar (AN) offshore basin, and has been instrumental in triggering the current momentum in offshore activity,” said Puri.
National Oil Companies have planned to drill four offshore stratigraphic wells https://www.bseindia.com/.
ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) have launched an ambitious exploration campaign in the Andaman ultra-deepwater region https://www.nseindia.com/.
For the first time, drilling operations are targeting depths of up to 5000 metres. One such wildcat well, ANDW-7, drilled in a carbonate play in the East Andaman Back Arc region, has yielded encouraging geological insights https://sbi.com.in/.
These include traces of light crude and condensate in cutting samples, heavy hydrocarbons like C-5 neo-pentane in trip gases, and the presence of reservoir-quality facies. These findings establish, for the first time, the existence of an active thermogenic petroleum system in the region, comparable to those in Myanmar and North Sumatra https://www.opec.org/.
Providing an overview of the exploration outcomes so far, the Minister informed that ONGC has made hydrocarbon discoveries in 20 blocks, with an estimated reserve of 75 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE).
OIL, on its part, has made seven oil and gas discoveries over the past four years, with reserves estimated at 9.8 million barrels of oil and 2,706.3 million standard cubic meters of gas, Puri told Rajya Sabha. Fiinews.com
