State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today said its board had approved a Rs 352.5-crore investment in producing oil from a marginal field off the Mumbai coast.
ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Vasudeva said the company board had also approved payment of an interim dividend of Rs 6.25 per equity share of Rs 5 each for the 2011-12 financial year.
"The total payout on this account will be Rs 5,347.20 crore, out of which the government of India will reap Rs 3,964.36 crore," he said.
Including dividend tax of Rs 867.45 crore, the total payout works out to Rs 6,214.65 crore. As a result, the total payout to the government of India, including dividend tax, will amount to Rs 4,831.81 crore.
Vasudeva said the board had approved redevelopment of the B-173A marginal field situated 50 km West of the Mumbai coastline for improving its recovery factor.
The field was discovered in 1992. The field is currently producing 1,870 barrels of oil per day. Till October 31, 2011, the field has produced about 2,076 million tonne.
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"The proposal envisages installation of one bridge-connected wellhead platform and drilling and completion of three development wells at an investment of Rs 352.49 crore," he said.
With these additional inputs, recovery from the field is expected to be enhanced from 16.98%, as envisaged in the base case for development, to 20.36% of OIIP (Oil Initially In-Place).
From a production perspective, this would result in a cumulative output of 3.330 million tonnes of oil and 0.4719 billion cubic metres of gas from the field by 2025-26, as against the business-as-usual scenario of 2.763 million tonnes of oil and 0.4009 bcm of gas.
The project is scheduled to be completed by March, 2014. Vasudeva said the board also approved a Rs 115-crore investment in the Heera and South Heera fields, situated 70 km South-West of Mumbai city.
"The Feasibility Report of Heera Redevelopment Phase-II is currently under examination and due for put up to the board in March 2012," he said.
Considering the onset of the monsoon in mid-2012, the ONGC board decided to grant approval to the project ahead of ratification of the feasibility report as it would enable expeditious production of oil and gas through three clamp-on structures, of which two will be completed before the onset of the monsoon.
It has been felt that with this proactive and advanced action, drilling activities in the slots of the clamp-on could be conducted even during the monsoon, which would make early production from these wells during 2012-13 & 2013-14 possible, he said.