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Italian exploration company ENI's proposed partnership with ONGC in Krishna-Godavari Basin hinges on its success in the Mahanadi Basin.
Final call
“Discussions with ENI have progressed but the Italian exploration major wants to wait for the outcome of the ongoing drilling activity in Mahanadi offshore deepwater block before taking a final call,” an official in the know of the developments told Business Line .
ONGC had invited international majors for possible tie-up in the integrated appraisal, development process of New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) block KG-DWN-98/2 (excluding the big gas discovery in ultra-deepwater in same the block) and adjoining nomination blocks.
The asset has both oil and gas.
The cluster comprises oil and gas discoveries in G-4-6, GS-29-1 and G-4-5, a part of discoveries in KG-DWN-98/2, and the Block IG, which ONGC had got prior to NELP under the petroleum exploration licence (PEL) regime.
These discoveries are estimated to hold in-place reserves of around 137 billion cubic metres of gas and 150 million tonnes of oil.
“We don't need technology for exploration, but we do need technology for bringing the find to production with cost-effectiveness. The company is expecting the partner to come in with expertise in this area,” an ONGC official said.
Target date
ONGC initially was targeting 2010 to bring the area into production.
But now the company is looking at 2012-13.
Among the companies that had envisaged interest in ONGC's Krishna Godavari Basin asset are ExxonMobil, BG, and BP.
ENI had acquired 34 per cent participating interest in ONGC's Mahanadi block, MN-DWN-2002/1 as part of a swap agreement. The partners are in phase-1 of the exploration, which requires them to drill three wells.
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