New Delhi: State-run Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is expecting big wins in its endeavour to increase production from Mumbai High, India’s largest and most prolific offshore oil field, in 1.5-2 years, said its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Arun Kumar Singh on Friday. Speaking to the reporters at a post-Annual General Meeting (AGM) interaction, the Chairman said, “In the E&P sector, anything you touch, it takes a year or two because first you identify the problem, then design a solution, procure, install and commission. This is the process for even the smallest of E&P projects and it takes time.”
Follow Energy Watch on X
“Small wins can come in 6-7 months. Small wins will come. Big wins will take around a year-and-a-half or two years,” said Singh. ONGC’s Director (Production) Pankaj Kumar said that studies are underway and will take another three-four months.
The ONGC CMD said that recovery from Mumbai High fields is at 30 percent currently. “Our recovery so far is 30 percent. This group, which is working on it, says that it should be nothing below 45 percent,” he said while quantifying the expected gains in production. In January, ONGC had said that its Technical Service Provider (TSP) for Mumbai High — bp — has indicated an increase of 60 percent in oil and oil equivalent gas from Mumbai High, from 70.40 million tonnes of oil equivalent to 112.63 million tonnes of oil equivalent.
The Mumbai High field accounts for almost 25 percent of India’s production. The field is estimated to have a balance reserve of 80 MT (610 million barrels) of oil and over 40 bcm of gas. “The only thing we should not drop our hat till we achieve 45 percent (recovery from Mumbai High),” said the CMD.
Commenting on the purchase of Russian crude oil, the ONGC CMD said the company will continue to buy Russian oil as long as it makes commercial sense. “Russian crude oil is not sanctioned. As long as it is commercial and economic, ONGC will buy it depending upon refinery economics, etc,” he added. On being asked about acquisition of assets in Russia, Singh said, “ONGC is opportunistic as far as acquisition of assets is concerned. If the asset comes at a price which is reasonable, acceptable to us, alongwith long-term value, we have a thinking that we should go for it.” He added that there are enough discoveries made in the world, so, under-development assets make more sense for a company like ONGC.
In a presentation, ONGC said that bids under the recently-announced National Deep Water Exploration Mission, are expected soon. PSU Watch reported earlier that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 15 that India would launch a National Deep Water Exploration Mission to pursue self-reliance in energy. “Anchored on the 2025 Act’s uniform, investor-friendly licence — first deep-water bid round expected soon,” said ONGC.
Follow Energy Watch on LinkedIN
ONGC Videsh Limited, the overseas investment subsidiary of ONGC, has about USD 350 million in dividend income stuck in Russian banks that it can’t repatriate because of sanctions, said its Managing Director Rajarshi Gupta. The firm has another USD 600 million stuck in Venezuela due to sanctions. “We believe resolution will happen soon and we should be able to get the money soon,” Gupta said.
