Comments
ONGC is tapping global companies for a possible tie-up to boost its domestic deep-water hydrocarbons hunt. On offer are 19 oil and gas acreages, including the East Coast ultra-deepwater gas discovery of the company, won through domestic licensing rounds.
ONGC has written to 13 international companies, mainly from the US and Australia, for a proposed partnership. While declining to give names of these companies, an official privy to the development told Business Line that “these are independent mid-sized companies that have had work experience in South-East Asia.”
The data room in Delhi was opened on October 17 for the companies to assess the acreage. ONGC hopes to complete the process by the second quarter of the next fiscal.
Little success earlier
The public sector exploration company is under constant public glare for its low success rate compared with its competitors in the private sector.
Earlier attempts by ONGC to invite foreign players for equity participation in exploration blocks have met with little success. Players such as Exxon, BP, and BG had also envisaged interest, however, talks did not materialise.
Fast-track monetisation (bringing to production) of its acreages is the main focus of the company. Many of the blocks on offer are largely unchartered, ultra-deepwater acreages.
“ONGC doesn't need technology for exploration, but we do need technology for bringing deep-water finds to production with cost-effectiveness. The company is expecting the partner to come in with expertise in this area,” the official said.
Of the 19 blocks on offer for participating interest, three are already discovered. The blocks are spread across the Krishna-Godavari Basin, the Cauvery-Palar Basin, the Mahanadi Basin, and the Andamans.
Recently, ONGC has been in discussions with ENI, the Italian exploration major, for a possible tie-up in the integrated appraisal, development process of New Exploration and Licensing Policy block KG-DWN-98/2 (excluding the big gas discovery in ultra-deepwater in same the block) and adjoining nomination blocks. The asset has both oil and gas.
Most of ONGC's production comes from ageing fields and Mumbai High offshore. The company hopes that new and marginal fields can help raise its crude oil production by about 15 per cent to 28 million tonne by 2013. It hopes that natural gas production will rise to 100 million standard cubic metres per day by 2016-17 from the current 62 mmscmd.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.