Oil firms to pump $1 bn into PMT fields

ONGC, Reliance Industries and British Gas to increase output from the Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields.

Along with its two partners - Reliance Industries and British Gas - state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to spend an additional $1 billion on the Panna-Mukta and Tapti (PMT) oil and gas fields, off the country's west coast, over the next few years to increase output.

"The joint venture partners plan to further invest about $1 billion in the PMT fields over the next few years and are working with the central government to expand projects that may further increase the current production rate by about 60 per cent by 2009," said Petroleum Minister Murli Deora after inaugurating the Tapti Compression and Processing Platform (TCPP).

ONGC has 40 per cent stake in the unincorporated joint venture, while RIL and British Gas Exploration and Production India (BGEPIL), a subsidiary of the British Gas group, have 30 per cent interest each in the venture.

Deora said the joint venture partners have already invested $800 million in the PMT fields over the last five years. The fields currently produce around 8 per cent of the country's oil and gas, he said.

The gas output from the PMT fields has gone up to 17 million cubic metres a day (mcmd), he said.

The BG-ONGC-RIL joint venture also produces 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields.

The commissioning of the Mid-Tapti project would increase gas production from Tapti fields from the current level of 7.1 mcmd to about 12 mcmd, said Deora, adding that this additional gas supply of 5 mcmd would be available for the domestic market.

Recent discoveries of gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, the Mahanadi basin off Orissa and the Cauvery basin off the Tamil Nadu coast have boosted hopes of the country becoming gas surplus in the long term.

Gas consumption may rise to 400 mcmd by 2025 if the economy grows at a projected rate of around 8 per cent a year. About 80 per cent of the current gas supply is from ONGC.

"The production increase from the PMT fields show that there is a lot of potential to boost oil and gas output in India. The western offshore still has significant reserves," a top government official said.

The first gas from the eastern offshore is expected to start flowing from the middle of June 2008, when RIL starts production from its D6 block.

Additional supplies of natural gas may lower India's need to import the fuel. The country, currently, imports almost 78 per cent of the crude oil requirement.