Four field development plans of oil and gas blocks auctioned under the first discovered small field round have been approved by the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons. The DGH is expected to approve more field development plans (FDPs) on Friday.

Hindustan Oil Exploration Company and Adbhoot Estates’s B80 contract area in the Mumbai offshore basin is the first of the 31 FDPs to get approval from the DGH. Both the companies have a 50 per cent participating interest in the block.

“We aim to start production during the April– June, 2020. Production from B80 is expected to add ₹100 crore per year to the bottomline of HOEC,” P Elango, Chief Executive Officer, HOEC, told BusinessLine .

Under the plan, two new offshore wells will be drilled, a mobile offshore process unit will then be installed and the processed oil and gas will be transported by connecting to nearby oil and gas pipelines of ONGC.

Elango said, “We have got an in-principle approval from ONGC for connecting to their pipeline. It’s just 4 km away from our block. We had taken this into consideration while bidding. If it weren’t there, we would have to set up a pipeline for 150 km to reach consumers.”

“We are currently in the process of hiring an offshore rig that can be converted into a mobile offshore process unit for the block,” Elango added. The FDP for B80 estimates 5,000 barrels per day of oil production and 15 million cubic feet of gas production.

Another FDP that has been reviewed by the DGH is that of South Patan contract area in Gujarat. The block was bagged by South Asia Consultancy that has the entire participating interest.

Managing Director at South Asia Consultancy, DS Rajput, said, “A peak oil production of at least 150 barrels a day is indicated, with cumulative production of 265 million barrels of oil for 20 years without the use of any new technology.”

“We expect that total reserves after proper development of the field to be in the order of ₹6,100 crore, of which recoverable reserves will be of more than ₹1,200 crore,” Rajput said.

Rajput is confident of starting production from the block well before 2020. Speaking on how he intends to finance the exploration, he said, “We are looking to raise capital through an IPO next year. But before that, we wish to bid for one or two more blocks that will be on offer in the second round of discovered small field auction. We are also on the look out for partners to bid for one good Contract Area in the Open Acreage Licence Policy.”

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The other two FDPs are from Oilmax Energy Pvt Ltd for its two onshore blocks in Assam namely Charaideo and Duarmara. The company, with former Reliance Industries employees at its helm, has 100 per cent participating interest in both these blocks and expects to start production from the first quarter of 2020-2021.

From the Duarmara block, the company expects 770 barrels of oil per day and 11.6 million standard cubic feet per day. From Charaideo, the expected peak production is 773 barrels of oil per day.

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