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SUNIL JAIN
MUMBAI HIGH, OCT 31: Based on the recommendations made by its consultants Gaffney Cline & Associates (GCA), the public sector ONGC plans to spend around $1.5 bn in its Bombay High fields, to increase the recovery of oil from the present range of around 28 per cent to anywhere between 35 and 40 per cent. Given that ONGC's largest-ever find, Mumbai High has reserves or oil-in-place (OIP) of 1,600 million tonnes, a 10 per cent hike in the recovery rate would mean that an additional 160 million tonnes of oil could be extracted from the field during its remaining life.
In addition, ONGC also hopes to be able to hike the recovery factor in its Neelam oilfield from the current expectation of 26 per cent to around 32 per cent. This scenario is based on the recommendations of another set of consultants engaged by ONGC, DeGolyer and McNaughton.
This was announced by ONGC chief B.C. Bora at Mumbai, following detailed presentations to the press at the rig Sagar Ratna in Mumbai High.
According to Bora, the reasonwhy they were so confident that they would be able to increase the production from Bombay High -- it has fallen from a high of 4 lakh barrels a day in the mid-80s to around 2.5 lakh barrels today -- is that many of the recommendations made by the consultants had now begun to bear fruit. According to A K Mehra, General Manager in charge of drilling for the Mumbai Regional Business Centre, Bombay High production should start increasing after two more years -- the current production is around 10 million tonnes.
Kharak Singh, Chief General Manager in charge of the Neelam field, told The Indian Express, that the biggest breakthrough they had made in recent months has been in the use of gel technology to stop the seepage from one well structure to another this prevented ONGC from even repairing the wells effectively. According to Singh, ONGC had purchased this technology from a German supplier, and its efficacy had been tested and found suitable after application. As part of the McKinsey recommendations,ONGC is experimenting with having asset managers individually responsible for big fields -- Singh is in charge of Neelam.
According to initial estimates, Neelam had 160 million tonnes of oil, but this was later revised downwards to 109 mn. Due to bad management of the field, estimates of the recoverable oil also fell dramatically production fell from a high of 95,000 barrels a day in September 1994 to around 28,000 and then stabilised at 32,000 currently.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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