Days after Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced a significant crude oil find in ONGC’s Mumbai High fields, the exploration giant revealed it has hit upon an area that may have considerable potential, also in the Western offshore fields.

The area is in an unexplored part of the Mumbai High fields, called the Panna Formations, and has got ONGC’s exploration team buzzing.

“These are deeper formations which we are now able to access through newer technology. Though, at this point it is difficult to give any indication of the size, it will be significantly large,” said ONGC Director (Exploration) Ajay Kumar Dwivedi. At present, production from the Western offshore is mainly in shallow waters.

Elaborating on what he meant by “large”, Dwivedi said Mumbai High’s total mining lease area is 14,427 sq km (the producing area is always less than the mining lease area) and the Panna Formation surrounds it. Indications are that the area ONGC is looking at — North, West and South of Mumbai High — could be 200 sq km.

“We are undertaking a broadband seismic study (to identify the prospect of hydrocarbons deep down). In a year or year and a half, we should be able to assess the prospects,” Dwivedi said.

A few days ago, Minister Pradhan had announced that ONGC had found substantial reserves of crude oil in the area called Graben, between the Mumbai High North and South fields.

On the investments ONGC is looking at, Dwivedi said: “Our exploration budget for this fiscal is ₹14,000 crore; a major portion will be spent on the Western offshore.”

Asked why ONGC is undertaking this exercise at a time when most explorers are cutting costs following the steep drop in oil prices, he said: “If you see the big players, they were also undertaking such activities. This is because service providers are not expensive, more equipment is available in the market, and there is more competition as exploration has come down drastically. We have taken advantage of this.”

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