The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said today that it would soon commence an ambitious Rs 5,000-crore investment plan for restructuring of its Bombay High oil fields to tide over the 'mid-life problem' it faces.
"We hope to begin work on revival of offshore fields in the next two-three months that will jack up crude output by at least 50 per cent to 15 million tonne in five years," chairman and managing director Bikash C Bora said, adding that the corporation was seeking necessary clearance from petroleum ministry and director general of hydrocarbons.
Undertaken jointly with british consultant Geffney Cline & Associates (GCA), who submitted their final report on Bombay High recast plan last week, the exercise is expected to improve oil recovery from 26-28 per cent to 35-40 per cent, he said.
Redevelopment plan for Bombay High north would be taken up in January 2001, while that for Bombay high south in April 2001, he said, adding the complete recast of the offshore oil field which currently contributes around 42 per cent to ONGC's crude production is likely to be completed in four years.
ONGC produced close to 10.5 million tonne of crude and 12 million cubic meter of gas per day at its Bombay High offshore field in 1999-2000. The cost of crude oil produced from Bombay High, which has reserves of about 1.64 billion tonne that could last till 2050, is only about 40 per cent of the imported crude.
Bora said the entire requirement to fund the Bombay High revamp exercise is expected to be met through internal accruals. If required, it may go in for securing debt.
"Bombay High is going through a mid-life problem which is faced by almost all fields around the world, wherein production begins to decline progressively. We have embarked upon this exercise to arrest decline and extend the life of the field by another 50 years at least," Yogesh B Sinha, director, exploration said.
The revival package will not only help arrest decline in output but also give us an additional five million tonne of crude a year, he said. "We are using comprehensive 3-D seismic data of the entire 1,200 sq km oil field. This state-of-the art technique was not available in the earlier years and has now provided the clearest-ever picture of the nation's richest oil field," Sinha said.
With the investment in both Bombay high and other oilfields, ONGC would be able to take its crude production to over 30 million tonne in five years, he said pointing out that in the absence of the revival programme of various oil fields, the crude output would have declined to 20-21 million tonne in 2005 from 24.63 million tonnes produced in 1999-2000.
Simultaneously, the corporation has embarked on an advanced oil recovery programme, which would primarily involve water alternating gas injection and explore the possibility of using high-technology nitrogen injection, Sinha said, adding the programme will yield five lakh tonnes of additional crude during the current year.
