ONGC, RIL in talks to share KG infrastructure

State- ONGC is in talks with Reliance Industries to share the latter's offshore and onshore infrastructure on the eastern coast for starting production from its KG-DWN-98/2 block.

"We have started talking to them...they are open to that (infrastructure sharing)," Sudhir Vasudeva, chairman and managing director, ONGC said on Sunday. "It makes immense sense to share infrastructure," Vasudeva was talking to reporters after commissioning the Mumbai High North process platform. Mumbai High is ONGC's most prominent block in the western offshore region, contributing 70% of ONGC's production.

The new process complex, built at an investment of R6,060 crore, is adjacent to the BHN platform which was gutted in a fire in 2005, claiming 22 lives. The platform will result in an additional production of 55 million tonnes of oil and 6.5 bcm of gas by 2030, but that hinges on the oil major increasing recovery from the platform from the present 24% to 40%. The platform, the largest in Indian offshore with the heaviest jacket of 13,500 tonnes, was built by L&T at its Oman plant.

ONGC is also planning to start monetising its deepwater asset in the eastern offshore, and the company has got clearances from the navy for the KG-DWN-98/2 block and plans to start the appraisal drilling programme by December. "We are in the process of hiring a rig. We have already got the approval for extension of the exploratory drilling phase by one year," Vasudeva said.

The upstream giant expects to start pumping gas from the KG basin block by 2016. It has a potential to produce around 22 mscmd of gas, which can be raised to 35 mscmd if the cluster fields are also tied up with it. The KG-DWN-98/2 block has two discovery areas--north and south. ONGC is developing the northern area, which has several gas discoveries.

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