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9/28/2010 Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections - I…
clear definition of the first person responsible. This concept is well embedded in the CRC matrix, where cadre
specialisation is blended with team orientation. Development geology continues to play a key role in field
development even under the CRC.
Question: Nothing spectacular has been discovered either in the offshore blocks or on land blocks of the Cauvery
Basin. This, despite nearly three to four decades of drilling and re-studying the data with the help of Russian
experts. Is the ONGC’s faith in the Cauvery Basin misplaced?
Answer: The ONGC started its exploration activities in the Cauvery on land basin in 1958. The first wild-cat well,
Karaikal-1, was drilled in 1965 in the Cauvery on land area. Until 1977, the breakthrough in exploration was elusive
in spite of drilling 18 exploratory wells on 12 prospects and obtaining hydrocarbon shows in two prospects namely,
Karaikal and Madanam. Exploratory drilling was given a holiday between 1977 and 1984, during which a
reassessment of the basin was done.
Exploratory efforts were renewed in 1984 with a string of successes, leading to significant commercial hydrocarbon
discoveries notably, at Kovilkalappal, Narimanam, Kuthalam, Kamalapuram, Periyapattinam, Perungulam,
Kajirangudi, Thiruvarur, Adiyakkamangalam, Vijayapuram, Bhuvanagiri and Adichapuram.
Exploratory efforts by the ONGC in offshore area led to the discovery of two oil-bearing prospects, PH-9 in 1981
and PY-3 in 1988, and one gas-bearing prospect -- PY-1 in 1980. Currently, the corporation operates in eight
nomination petroleum exploration licences -- six on land and two in shallow water -- and 11 NELP blocks -- three
on land and eight in deep water.
The ONGC’s interest in pursuing exploration in the Cauvery Basin is evident from the fact that all the NELP blocks
offered in the last round were awarded to it. The ONGC has drilled about 450 exploratory wells on land and 57
exploratory wells offshore.
Relentless exploratory efforts in the Cauvery Basin has led to 31 discoveries and has established in-place reserves
of 56.44 mm tons of oil and condensate, and 72.692 bn cm of gas and ultimate reserves of 14.56 mm tons of oil
and condensate, and 34.9 bn cm of gas. Commercial gas production from this basin started in 1988. Twenty-one
fields are under production with a rate of 813 tons of oil a day and 3.3 mm cm of gas. Five locations have been
released for exploration in the Adichapuram, Tulsapatnam, Kali and Ramnad areas.
In offshore areas, several prospects have been identified. It is necessary to reiterate that the on land and shallow
sectors of the Cauvery Basin would continue to provide accretion in hydrocarbon volumes although spectacular
breakthroughs are more or less likely to occur in the deep water realm of the basin.
Question: Can you give us an estimate of the “success” of Sagar Samriddhi? The ONGC has sunk more than $ 1
bn in the project but many believe that the reserves accreted are only on paper. Even if one notionally considers
these reserves as producible, the cost of production and the technology to produce will remain areas of major
concern.
Answer: The Indian oil and gas industry has realised that “easy oil” has already been located and future energy
resources lie in logistically challenging frontiers such as deep water basins. The ONGC has a strategic goal of
establishing 4 bn tons of in-place hydrocarbons, of the 6 bn tons it is targeting by 2020, from its deep-water blocks.
According to the estimates of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), out of the total prognosticated
resources of 32 bn tons of oil and oil equivalent of gas available in the basins, 11 bn tons are locked in the deep
waters.
Project Sagar Samriddhi was launched in August 2003 for exploration of oil and natural gas in deep water areas.
Under the project, the ONGC has drilled 38 wells as on April 1, 2007, of which 26 are in Krishna-Godavari offshore
basin, three in Mahanadi offshore, one in Cauvery offshore basin and eight in western offshore basins. Its forays
into deep water have been a mixed bag of successes and failures. Eight wells drilled along the West Coast have
not given encouraging results.
Of the 30 wells drilled on the East Coast, 14 proved to be hydrocarbon-bearing in KG and Mahanadi basins. The
discovery during 2006-07 in the ultra-deep water [2,841 m] has been one of the largest discoveries in the eastern
offshore. Besides, the ONGC established the presence of hydrocarbons for the first time in the Mahanadi basin.
Source: http://www.hinduonnet.com
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