From No-Go to Gas Flow: ONGC Makes Major Discoveries in Deepwater Mahanadi Basin

15 Jan 2024 , 09:28 AM

As its planned strategy of dabbling in high-risk deep water exploration begins to pay off, the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), based in New Delhi, has produced two noteworthy back-to-back natural gas discoveries in a deepwater block in the Mahanadi basin of the Bay of Bengal. 

According to news reports, the company made the finds in the block MN-DWHP-2018/1, which it had won in the open acreage licencing policy’s third round of auction in 2019.

Most remarkably, the finds were made in an area that was previously considered to be ‘no-go’ due to national security concerns.

According to them, during the first testing, the first discovery, known as Uktal, flowed more than 3 lakh cubic metres of gas a day at a water depth of 714 metres. The other find, they added, is at a water depth of 1,110 metres.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), an upstream regulator, has been informed of the finds by ONGC, and the company is currently evaluating the size of the pool and its commercial potential.

The discovery of fresh reserves bodes well for the energy security of a country that imports around half of its gas requirements. Increased domestic production will help India meet its goal of increasing the percentage of natural gas in its energy basket from 6.3% to 15% by 2030.

Regarded as a transition fuel, petrol will help India reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070. Natural gas is considered a bridging fuel because of its smaller carbon footprint while the nation moves away from fossil fuels that cause pollution.

Natural gas that is extracted from the earth or the sea is used to produce power, fertilisers, or to create compressed natural gas (CNG), which is then piped into homes and used as fuel for cooking. Natural gas will supplant coal as a primary energy source and liquid fuel in industrial processes.

According to sources, the government’s removal of constraints on oil and gas exploration and production across nearly one lakh square kilometres allowed ONGC to expedite its exploration efforts.

Because it was either in the path of a missile test or on a satellite launch route, this location was designated as a ‘no-go’ area. In 2022, restrictions were lifted on almost 98% of the ‘no-go’ areas, enabling oil corporations to send drillships and boats there.

In August of last year, ONGC collected 1,432.14 sq km of 3D seismic data in the Mahanadi deep-water block (MN-DWHP-2018/1 block) and spud well MNDW181H-B-1.

Drilled by the powerful drillship West Polaris, the well is the first of its sort under the open acreage licencing policy (OALP) regime.

According to sources, these offshore Mahanadi exploration successes will function as a catalyst to open up other exploration fronts and draw in additional funding.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by ONGC and TotalEnergies, a major French energy company, last year to create a framework for the sharing of data regarding deepwater offshore acreage, particularly in the Mahanadi and Andaman basins. In order to use its superior technological strengths in deepwater exploration and production, Total was able to make an informed decision regarding its participation in ONGC acreage.

The company and ExxonMobil had already inked terms of agreement for deepwater exploration along the east and west coasts of the nation. The partnership with Exxon is concentrated on the Kutch-Mumbai region in the western offshore area and the Krishna Godavari and Cauvery basins in the eastern offshore area.

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