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Exploration & Development — Quick Takes
ONGC to develop fields off western India
Production is expected to begin in May 2014 from a cluster of oil and gas fields in the Mumbai High area offshore western India to be developed by state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp.
The B-127 cluster, east of Mumbai High oil field, includes marginal fields B-127, B-157, and B-59. ONGC estimates reserves at 15.35 million tonnes of oil equivalent, with 24.6 million tonnes in place in the Eocene Bassein and Paleocene-Eocene Panna formations.
The company estimates total production of 1.836 million tonnes of oil and 2.093 billion cu m of natural gas over 10 years.
It also will extend development of B-55 field, northeast of Mumbai High and the B-127 cluster, on production since November 1999 and currently yielding about 2.05 million standard cu m/day from nine wells. The exploratory well B-55-5 produced gas from the Oligocene Mukta formation, warranting further development, ONGC said. The operator expects incremental production of 155,000 tonnes of oil and 2.583 billion cu m of natural gas over 13 years.
Also east of B-127, ONGC reported a discovery in the B-127E-1 well, which during drilling to 2,735 m encountered hydrocarbons in "various intervals" of the target Panna formation.
On a test of one of five intervals of interest, at 2,651.5-2,648.5 m, the well flowed 1,076 b/d of oil and 1.9 million cu m/day of gas through a ½-in. choke.
Total to challenge revocation of shale gas permit
Total SA plans to challenge the French government's decision to cancel its exploration permit for shale gas in the Montelimar region of southern France.
"We respected the law and we do not understand why this permit was withdrawn on legal grounds," Total Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie told French newspaper Les Echos.
Although the region under exploration consists mainly of shale gas reserves, Total said it is not committed to not using any technique that is banned by law—specifically hydraulic fracturing.
De Margerie told Les Echoes that France risked being left behind and compromising on security of supply if the government continued to prevent exploration.
"Be careful, we are making the security of supply of France not easy if we decide not to think of how to produce shale gas in a cleaner way," he told the paper.
"De Margerie's strident tone perhaps belies a nervousness over the drift among European governments towards tighter regulation or outright banning of shale gas production," said analyst Kash Burchett of IHS Global Insight.
The French government canceled shale gas exploration permits in October after Total allegedly aimed to continue with plans to drill for the gas using fracing.
France's Energy Minister Eric Besson and Environmental Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said the permit had been canceled after Total submitted a mandatory report maintaining plans to use fracing.
The revoked permit, which covers the Montelimar region, was awarded to Total in March 2010 and encompasses an area of 4,327 sq km extending southward from below Valence to the region around Montpellier.
Total has until Dec. 12 to determine whether to ask the Energy and Ecology ministries for a detailed explanation for the cancellation of the permit or simply to file an appeal with the French courts.
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