The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has drawn up a comprehensive roadmap to further intensify its exploration campaign, allocating a capital expenditure of about Rs 31,000 crore during FY2022-25.
This is 150 percent of its exploration expenditure of Rs 20,670 crore in FY2019-22. The company also plans to leverage international collaborations with reputed global majors for this, for which talks are in advanced stage.
This exploration intensification includes activities funded through ONGC’s internal program as well as funded and facilitated by the government.
Under government-funded program for appraisal of unapprised offshore areas till Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), 70,000 LKM of state-of-the-art 2D broadband seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation (API) will be done in three sectors -- West Coast of India, East Coast of India and Andaman offshore.
ONGC will complete the technical bid opening (TBO) for seismic data acquisition by June 2022. In Andaman Basin, ONGC presently holds two blocks for exploration under Open Acreage Licensing policy (OALP).
The Centre has also acquired seismic data in some sectors within ‘No-Go’ areas and few prospects are already identified. ONGC has plans to drill six wells in the next three years, of this, two will be under ONGC committed work program and four through government funding.
Moreover, global companies/consultants are being invited for the assessment of the basin for future exploration and exploitation plan.
ONGC’s internal program has three components; re-exploration of mature basins, consolidation of emerging basins and probing of emerging and new basins.
Under this internal program, ONGC is trying to probe around 1,700 million tonne of oil and oil equivalent gas of yet-to-find reserves during FY2022-25.
The activities include state-of-the-art 2D and 3D seismic survey, followed by drilling of around 115-120 wells with an estimated outlay of Rs 10,000 crore every year for next three years.