Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) would be investing Rs 300 crore for developing the Bengal offshore project. ONGC has been given the mandate to complete the seismic data survey, analysis of the data and also to do necessary drilling within two years. The primary ground work will commence after the monsoon.
Disclosing this, P K Adak, regional director, Central Regional Business Centre (CRBC) of ONGC, said the project would be developed on a 85:15 joint venture basis with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) as the minority partner. The participation of IOC would be limited to capital infusion as the actual development of the field would be done by ONGC. The company has been awarded two blocks under NELP-II (New Exploration Licensing Policy) in the Bengal offshore. It is also engaged in Bengal onshore project for which land has already been acquired.
"We are looking Bengal offshore primarily as a gas province though it would be too premature to comment on that. While the total investment would be around Rs 300 crore, the survey alone would cost Rs 115 crore," A K Balyan, general manager (exploration), CRBC, said.
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Balyan further said that ONGC was mulling over inducting external agency to carry out the seismic data survey on the Bengal offshore. "The technology to carry out such survey on shallow waters is not available with ONGC," Balyan said.
ONGC has also received a number of CBM (coal-bed methane) blocks to develop in Raniganj and Jharia coal belts. The company has entered into an alliance with Coal India Ltd (CIL) to carry out surveys and possible exploratory work. While the possibility of commercial viability seemed to be positive at Jharia, initial findings suggested that same might not be so for Raniganj. "Out of the four wells, only one has shown positive result," Adak informed.
While talking about the ongoing work at Tripura, ONGC officials said that the company was not able to sell its entire gas production. "ONGC produces one million cubic meter gas per day in Tripura against its potential of about four million cubic meter per day because the market is not big enough. Moreover, there is no way to transport the gas to other parts of the country," Balyan said.
He also added that ONGC was exploring the possibility of joint venture with some foreign companies who have the technology to convert natural gas into liquid form. However, the problem of logistics would still remain in that case as well.