The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd is seeking to expedite work on a major oil and gas project in the Krishna Godavari basin by taking up works simultaneously with regard to exploration, development and seeking approvals from the Government, according to Mr Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC.
Speaking to newspersons late on Wednesday, Mr Vasudeva said ONGC has taken to production of both oil and gas from the KG Basin in a small way late in 2011. However, this project, which covers a large area — some in deeper blocks and some in relatively shallow areas — would require billions of dollars.
“It would not be appropriate now to fix any numbers to the investment plans here. Typically, it takes about 9-10 years to develop deep water blocks. In the case of Reliance, they have managed to do it in about 6-7 years. We are also keen to complete this at the earliest,” he said.
“We had commenced production from GS 15 offshore project in August 2011 which produces about 2000 barrels of oil per day and 0.18 cubic metres of gas. Another site is also expected to contribute by the first quarter of 2013. But overall production is likely to go up by 2016-17,” he said.
Capex
Mr Vasudeva said that ONGC has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 33,065 crore for the next financial year (2012-2013) . “While during the XI Plan, we had projected a capex of about Rs 75,000 crore, this has shot up to Rs 1,25,000 crore. Further, for the XII plan period, ONGC expects to deploy a capex of about Rs 1,64,000 crore,” he said.
Asked about certain blocks in the KG Basin — now being pursued jointly with the Andhra Pradesh Government — getting caught up in national security matters , Mr Rao said that the issue is being sought to be resolved. However, “ONGC may invoke the Force Majeure clause if the issue relating to defence concerns with regard to these blocks are not resolved. That means, we would be absolved of any liabilities arising out of contracts due to extraordinary circumstances,” Mr Rao explained.
As per estimates, the KG basin reserves which ONGC holds are about 93 billion cubic metres, Mr Rao stated.
Top executives from the oil and gas sector and researchers have assembled at the three-day biennial conference hosted by the Society of Petroleum Geophysicists.