State-run upstream hydrocarbon company ONGC is looking at cost optimisation and profit maximisation, with crude oil prices hovering around a lower range. It is targeting 40 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (mmtoe) of indigenous oil and gas output in the medium term with production to start in a clutch of new fields, Sushma Rawat, Director (Exploration), told Arunima Bharadwaj in an interview. Excerpts:
What are the company’s plans regarding growth in its exploration & production of oil and gas?
After a slowdown in Covid, we have really started refocusing on acreage acquisition, as well as trying to increase exploratory drilling and data acquisition. Just last year, we acquired an acreage of 1.5 lakh square kilometers. Currently, once the OALP 9th round results are formalised, we will be up to around 2.6 lakh sq km, which is a huge leap in terms of acreage increase. Most of it is going to be offshore.
In terms of data acquisition, we are conducting non seismic as well as seismic surveys. Non seismic, we are keeping for difficult terrain of the Himalayas, or for the northeast. We are doing a lot of gravity, magnetic and aerial, geochemical surveys that have been undertaken and will be undertaken.
Coming offshore, we have both shallow water as well as deepwater and ultra-deepwater coming up. We have been having those technical tie ups and teams, joint technical teams with the international oil companies in the past, right from Exxon, Chevron, TotalEnergies. So the risk mitigation process has already been undertaken. We know which can be the better areas for future exploration and likely discoveries.
Coming to the drilling aspect of it, we have 113 of our own rigs and last year we did more than 100 wells in exploration. For this financial year we are targeting 40 mmtoe of indigenous production and exploring 550 wells.
How do you plan to reverse output decline from mature fields?
The decline in gas production is only momentary. We have a number of discoveries which are underway in terms of field development plans and we are also trying to bring in technology improvement. We are developing modular solutions such as Small LNG plants/Mobile LNG or CNG Plants etc for stranded discoveries.
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