ONGC has started commercial production of gas from the North Tapti offshore marginal gas field.
According to sources, beginning early this month three wells of North Tapti are connected to the Cairn-operated CB-OS/2 joint venture in Cambay Basin in Gujarat, for processing.
As per the joint venture agreement between the two companies, Cairn will be receiving tolling fee for processing the North Tapti gas.
The current flow is estimated to be 15-20 million standard cubic feet a day.
The Rs 580-crore project is expected to reach a peak production level of 1.8 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd).
Gas was scheduled to start flowing from the field last year.
Initially, ONGC planned to develop this marginal field jointly with the Ambe marginal gas field of CB/OS-2 JV to optimise investment in pipeline and processing infrastructure. The total estimated production (from North Tapti and Ambe) of over 3 mscmd was slated to be processed at Cairn’s existing operations at Hazira. While Cairn later dropped the Ambe development plan, ONGC went ahead with the North Tapti project.