ONGC Videsh Ltd strikes oil in Colombia block

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has made a “significant” oil discovery in an onshore block in Colombia.

OVL struck oil while drilling an appraisal well ‘Indico-2’ in CPO-5 block in Llanos Basin of Colombia, the company said in a statement.

OVL is the operator in the block with 70 per cent stake. Geopark Ltd, an independent oil and gas company focussed in Latin America, has the remaining 30 per cent interest.

The well ‘Indico-2’ encountered a net pay of 147 feet which during initial testing produced oil of 35.2 degrees API in commercial quantity at the rate of 6,300 barrels per day.

“Currently, the well is flowing under short term testing with multi bean study for further evaluation,” the company said.

This is the fourth commercial find in the block by OVL.

Light oil was discovered in the first well ‘Indico-1X’ in the Indico field during December 2018, and to-date it has demonstrated a sustained flow of 5,200 barrels per day (bpd) with a cumulative production of over three million barrels of oil so far.

CPO-5 is a large onland block covering an area of 1,992 square kilometres and offers multiplay exploratory and appraisal opportunities.

“The company now plans to drill more wells to explore the other plays in the block in the immediate future. OVL is also undertaking additional 3D seismic data to map more drillable prospects in the other sectors of the block,” the statement said.

OVL has a stake in 7 exploratory blocks in Colombia. These are in addition to two producing blocks with 50 per cent in JV company, Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd (MECL).