MUMBAI�India's government-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) plans to spend more than $1 billion on a two-pronged strategy to increase the production of oil and gas in existing basins and expand offshore drilling.
"We are taking up the redevelopment scheme for the Bombay High offshore fields by mid-2001, at an estimated cost of 50-60 billion rupees ($1.08 billion-1.29 billion)," said Bikash Chandra Bora, ONGC chairman and managing director.
He said the Bombay High work will be completed within 30 months of commencement. It will enable the field to produce 16 million bbl/year of crude over the next 15 years.
Similarly, work would begin at 15 oil fields off the west coast and at Gujarat field onshore under the improved oil recovery program. It would yield 10 million tonnes over the next 5 years.
On the deepwater drilling front, 16 blocks have been identified, and seismic surveys will be completed by early-2001. Drilling has already begun in three of the six blocks that ONGC received under a new exploration licensing policy to ONGC.
"We are gearing up to identify the right technology to be adopted for best results and have already approached the government for approval and the necessary financial commitment," Bora concluded.
