A panel headed by oil regulator DGH will by December 24 submit its report on the reasons for delay in developing gas discoveries in ONGC's Krishna Godavari basin KG-D5 block, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.
"The government has set up a three member inquiry committee for inquiring into the matter of delay in developing gas discoveries in KG-D5 (KG-DWN-98/2) block," he said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
ONGC's KG-D5 sits next to Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal. Both blocks were awarded in the first round of auction under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) in 2000.
While RIL began oil production from its KG-D6 block in September 2008 and gas output in April 2009, ONGC, which has made 11 oil and gas discoveries in KG-D5 block, still is at least four years away from first gas.
The ministry now wants to investigate the reasons for the delay.
"The inquiry committee comprises of the following members: Director General, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH); Advisor, Internal Finance Division, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Deputy Secretary (Exploration) in the Ministry," Pradhan said.
The panel, he said, is likely to submit its report within two months from the date of its meeting held on October 24.
As per ONGC estimates, gas production from the KG-D5 block is planned to begin in 2018 and oil output in 2019. KG-D5 will produce up to 90,000 barrels per day (4.5 million tonnes per annum) - the largest from any field on the east coast. ONGC will produce 17 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from the block.
KG-D5 is divided into a Northern Discovery Area (NDA) and Southern Discovery Area (SDA).
NDA holds an estimated 92.30 million tonnes of oil reserves and 97.568 billion cubic metres of inplace gas reserves spread over seven fields.
ONGC bought 90 per cent interest in Block KG-DWN-98/2 from Cairn Energy India Ltd in 2005. Cairn subsequently relinquished its remaining 10 per cent interest in favour of ONGC.
