BPCL exploration arm to drill 16 wells this year

Bharat PetroResources (BPRL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state-run oil marketer Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), expects to drill 16 wells by the end of this fiscal and is hopeful of further discoveries in its blocks in the country as well as overseas.

“We have taken up drilling of wells in India, Mozambique, Brazil, Australia and Indonesia and considering them to be highly prospective areas. We expect to drill as many as 16 wells by the end of this fiscal and find further discoveries in these blocks,” BPRL Chairman Mr R K Singh told reporters here over the weekend.

“Our entry into the upstream exploration and production sector in 2006 was the first step in BPCL’s attempt to become an integrated oil company,” Mr Singh added.

The company today has 27 blocks, out of which nine which were acquired by the company under different rounds of new exploration licensing policy (NELP) are located in the country and 18 are abroad, spanning six countries.

With 27 exploration blocks spread over seven countries, the strategy going forward will be to consolidate their position in these blocks and basins, he said. Efforts will also be made to upgrade the portfolio with a view to mature the prospects to the drilling stage.

Also, in an effort to rationalise investments, prioritising of the blocks from the point of view of exploration efforts will be initiated, Mr Singh added.

In FY11, the company made discoveries in Brazil, Mozambique, and Indonesia. It has also discovered natural gas in four of the six wells drilled in Mozambique, besides discovering light hydrocarbons in offshore Brazil and oil and gas in Indonesia.