ExxonMobil to explore India deepwater

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has signed a heads of agreement with ExxonMobil Corp. for deepwater exploration offshore India.

Collaboration areas focus on the eastern offshore Krishna Godavari and Cauvery basins and the western offshore Kutch-Mumbai region. In recent years, the companies have exchanged exploration data, leading to the partnership, ONGC said in a release.

Cauvery basin is an established hydrocarbon province with a resource base of 700 million metric tonnes, with 430 million metric tonnes on land and 270 million metric tonnes offshore. Structural and combination traps are in Early Cretaceous to Paleocene sequences. Stratigraphic traps such as pinch-outs, wedge-outs, and lenticular sand bodies are in early to late Cretaceous sequences.

Krishna Godavari basin is an established hydrocarbon province with a resource base of 1,130 million metric tonnes, of which 555 million metric tonnes are assessed offshore. Commercial hydrocarbons are in the oldest Permo-Triassic Mandapeta sandstone on land to the youngest Pleistocene channel levee complexes in deep water offshore. The basin has four petroleum systems classified broadly into Pre-Trappean and Post-Trappean due to their distinct tectonic and sedimentary characteristics.