(ET)
State-run hydrocarbon explorer ONGC has found reserves to the west of its Mumbai High offshore fields, with initial estimates suggesting the new discovery’s size to be about 20 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe). The firm’s output has been stagnating over the last many years with annual oil production in the range of 25-26 million tonnes (mt) and natural gas output around 23 billion cubic metres (bcm). Though the zones at the well WO 24-3 are still under assessment, the new find is believed to be big enough to pep up the firm’s production in coming years. Mumbai High in the Arabian sea annually produces about 10 mtoe. The newly discovered reserves are located 10 km west of Mumbai High, which is 180 km off the city’s coast.
The national oil explorer has already informed the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) of the find, sources in the firm said. ONGC has been witnessing a fall in production over the years following which earlier this year a committee headed by DGH was appointed to monitor the annual work programmes, oversee exploration budgets apart from observing performance of producing or non-producing fields and accordingly make recommendations. The company saw a marginal increase in crude oil production to 6.444 mt during the April-June 2018 quarter compared with 6.345 mt in the year-ago period. Its gas production jumped from 5.49 bcm to 6.03 bcm during the period. For 2017-18, ONGC plans gas production of 25 bcm and oil production of 25.3 mt.
