State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has begun gas production from its most promising block in the Krishna Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal and is planning a ramp up production in coming weeks, officials said.
ONGC's KG-DWN-98/2 or KG-D5 block, which sits next to Reliance Industries' flagging KG-D6 area, holds key to the company's output profile that is constrained by aging fields.
Officials said the company began production from the first well on the KG-D5 block and is currently producing around 0.25 million standard cubic meters per day.
It is doing a build-up mapping and the production is likely to rise to 0.75 mmscmd within next few weeks.
ONGC is investing USD 5.07 billion in developing the oil and gas discoveries in the block.
The project will cumulatively produce around 25 million tonne of oil and 45 billion cubic meters of gas with peak production of 78,000 barrels per day of oil and 15 million standard cubic meters per day.
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After successfully commissioning its first deepwater project S1 Vasishta in eastern offshore in March 2018 (which would be yielding about 4.3 mmscmd of gas), ONGC is now concentrating on the flagship project from NELP block KG-DWN-98/2 in the deepwater of eastern offshore.
Thirty-four wells are to be drilled under this project. Of these 34 wells, 15 are oil-producing, 8 are gas producing and 11 are water injecting wells.
The discoveries in the block are divided into three clusters- Cluster-1, 2 and 3. Cluster 2 is being put to production first.
The Cluster 2 field is divided into two blocks namely 2A and 2B, which are expected to produce 23.52 million metric tonnes of oil and 50.70 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas.
Oil production is likely to start shortly, they said.
Associated natural gas from Cluster 2A of this project will have a peak production of 3 mmscmd of gas and 78,000 bopd of oil with a 15-year profile; non-associated natural gas from Cluster 2B will have a peak free gas production of 12.25 mmscmd with a 16-year profile.
Officials said the KG-DWN-98/2 involves some of the most advanced oil field technologies in drilling and completion of 34 sub-sea wells, laying about 425 km of pipeline and 150 km of control umbilical in water depths varying from 300 to 1,400 metres.
An Offshore Process Platform for processing and evacuating 6.5 mmscmd of gas has been built. Balance 5.75 mmscmd gas will be transported through ONGC's existing sub-sea infrastructure and facilities, created at onshore terminal of Odalarevu at the Andhra coast. Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO) will also be deployed in water depth of 413 meters to process the oil and gas.
The KG-DWN 98/2 block is situated offshore the Godavari River delta in the Bay of Bengal. It is located 35-km off the coast of Andhra Pradesh in water depths ranging from 300-3,200 metres.
The Cluster 2A is estimated to contain reserves of 94.26 million tonnes of crude oil and 21.75 bcm of associated gas, while Cluster 2B is estimated to host 51.98 bcm of gas reserves.
The Cluster 2A is anticipated to produce 77,305 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and associated gas at a rate of 3.81 million metric standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd).
The Cluster-2B is expected to produce free gas of 12.75 mmscmd from eight wells and has a 16-year life.