Mahanadi basin reserve estimate in 6 months

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, which recently announced the discovery of natural gas off Orissa coast in the Mahanadi basin, will take about six months to assess the quantity of the reserve.

"We have dug only one well in the area, which is 35 km off the Orissa coast in the Mahanadi basin, to establish the find. But to know the extent of the reserve, we have to drill a few more wells in different locations in the area", ONGC chairman RS Sharma told Business Standard.

Normally, the job would have taken 2 to 3 months, but due to shortage of rigs it may take 5 to 6 months to drill the requisite number of appraisal wells in the Mahanadi basin, he said.

He pointed out that the force with which the gas gushed out of the first well, indicated that the reserve was commercially viable. "We will soon move our team to Orissa to work on the project", he added.

Stating that production of natural gas from deep water wells was a technological challenge, Sharma said, ONGC intended to enter into a strategic tie-up with a multinational company for commercial exploitation of the reserve. In this regard, we are in talks with a number of companies including ENI of Italy and Petrobas of Brazil.

Sharma was here to attend the consultative committee meeting of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas which was attended by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora, 14 MPs and heads of various PSU oil companies.

Talking to media on the sidelines of the meeting, Deora said, the main focus of the meeting was on how to meet energy security needs of the country. For this, a three-point strategy is required.

"First, we have to augment our own resources through exploration and exploitation of domestic reserves. Second, we have to look for oil and natural gas reserves abroad and third, we should promote alternative sources of energy in a big way," he said.

Stating that the country is importing 100 million tonnes of crude, against the domestic production of 26 million tonnes, he said the PSU oil companies are being encouraged to take up oil and gas blocks abroad to reduce dependency on imports.

"We are exploring the possibilities in Vietnam, Columbia, Syria, China, Russia, Libya, Nigeria and Yemen", he added.