Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today approved an investment of about Rs 3,500 crore for putting in additional facilities at its oilfields in Assam and Western Offshore to boost output and also reported five oil and gas discoveries.
The board of ONGC approved an investment of Rs 2,456.15 crore for re-engineering and revamping the surface facilities at Lakwa and Lakhmani oilfields in Assam, a company press statement said here.
The revamp of the surface facilities, which are more than 30-40 years old, and associated pipeline network would sustain production and uninterrupted exploitation for the next 25 years.
"The revamping and renewal of surface facilities in the other producing assets in Assam will also be taken up in a phased manner," it said.
The board also approved an investment of $131.60 million (Rs 658 crore) in development of PK and South West Panna areas in the Panna/Mukta oilfield in western offshore.
The project involves a total investment of $329 million, of which ONGC would have to bear 40 per cent, the same as its stake in the field. BG Group and Reliance Industries have 30 per cent a piece in Panna/Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields.
The project involves installation of two well-head platforms associated pipelines and drilling of nine wells, ONGC said.
"These additional facilities will give recovery of 14.50 million barrels of oil and 21.39 billion cubic feet of gas from PK and SWP areas of Panna field over a period of 11 years," it said. The ONGC share from these projects is 5.80 million barrels of oil and 8.56 bcf of gas.
Additionally, the board approved $74.6 million (Rs 373 crore) investment in development of un-drained area 'PL' in southern part of Panna/Mukta fields. The estimated cost of the project, including pre-development is $186.41 million, of which ONGC's share would be $74.6 million.
Incremental recovery of the order of 8.26 million barrels of oil and 12.25 bcf of gas (ONGC share of 3.30 million barrels of oil and 4.90 bcf of gas) has been envisaged in this plan.
The company has notified five discoveries this year. These include an oil and gas discovery in Bassein field in western offshore, gas finds in Saurashtra, Assam basin and Tripura.
Exploratory well SB-15 on Bassein flowed 205 barrels per day of oil and 1,30,008 cubic metres per day of gas. The oil is of very good quality with an American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity of 49. This is a measure of how heavy the oil is -- if more than 10 the oil is lighter than water.
