PM Narendra Modi flags off first crude oil tanker from ONGC's KG project

At its peak, the deepwater project is set to produce 7 per cent of India's oil and gas

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flagged off the first tanker - Swarna Sindhu - carrying crude oil produced in state-owned ONGC’s Krishna Godavari deepwater block. At its peak production, this project will add 7 per cent each to India’s oil and gas production, the national oil and gas company said in a statement.

Developed with an investment of over Rs 41,000 crore, the KG-DWN 98/2 Deepwater Oil Field M in the Krishna Godavari Basin is considered to be one of the most technologically complex projects in India's oil and gas industry to date.

Total envisaged peak gas production and oil production from the project is about 10 Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters per Day (MMSCMD) of natural gas, and 45,000 barrels of oil per day.

 

During its life cycle, the project KG-DWN-98/2 Cluster-II will add a total of 30.5 Billion Cubic Meters of Gas and 14.24 Million Metric Tonnes of oil to the Indian domestic oil and gas production.

ONGC has stressed the project is a key step in cutting India's dependency on crude and Liquified Natural Gas import. It stated that all subsea structures were fabricated by Indian manufacturers at Tamil Nadu's Kattupalli, in line with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

Floating Production

Saturday's event marked oil produced by the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit Armada Sterling V, built and operated by Shapoorji Pallonji Energy Private Limited (SP Energy).

The FPSO is located offshore the Godavari River delta in the Bay of Bengal, about 22 kilometres off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, in water depth of over 430 metres. It achieved 'First Oil' on January 7.

It is the largest floating installation ever deployed in the Indian subcontinent. It has a processing capacity of over 50,000 barrels of oil per day and 3 million MMSCMD of gas, and a storage capacity of 700,000 barrels. Shapoorji Pallonji’s owned or operated assets currently contribute to over 20 per cent of India’s total crude production, the company said in a statement.

Modi also dedicated ONGC’s Mumbai High North Oil Field Redevelopment Phase IV, Heera Redevelopment Phase-III and Phase-II development in Krishna Godavari Nagayalanka Block, to the nation.