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ONGC submits new Cauvery Basin drilling plan
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
INDIA’S state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has reportedly sought environmental approval from the central government to drill 24 exploration wells at one of its blocks in Tamil Nadu State.
ONGC said in its application to the Minis- try of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that it had identified five prospects in the block, which lies in both the on and offshore Cauvery Basin, local daily Economic Times reported. The company won the acreage, along with 12 others, in the country’s third Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) round
ONGC has previously explored in and around the block and now expects to discover 25-30mn tonnes (183.25-219.9 mn barrels) of oil equivalent via the drilling campaign. The 24 wells should require INR6.72bn ($94.4mn) worth of investment. The block
ONGC applied to the environment ministry earlier this year to drill 104 wells in the Cauvery Basin at a cost of INR15.6bn ($219.3mn). The head of the company’s drilling operations, Rajeeva Kumar, said at the time that the wells would be sunk using the company’s own elec- tric-driven rigs.
It is not immediately clear why the company has reapplied to drill 24 wells after applying to spud 104. However, local opposition to the larger drilling campaign has been mounting.
Local newswire IANS reported in June that opposition parties in Tamil Nadu had opposed the larger exploration plan over environmental concerns. AMMK leader T Dhinakaran called on village council leaders to ban the upstream projects. Dhinakaran said such decisions were
legally binding and should be made in order to prevent environmentally risky projects.
PTI quoted DMK president M Stalin as saying the central and state governments had failed to address local protestors’ concerns over ONGC’s drilling agenda. “It is very painful that the BJP-led central government is not ready to respect true democratic ethos,” he said.
ONGC’s Energy Strategy 2040 aims to com- plete 27 new upstream projects over the next four years to the tune of $12.25bn. The company has set an investment target of INR329.21bn ($4.63bn) for financial year 2019-2020.™
Pakistan, UAE move closer on refinery project
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
PAKISTAN and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are on the verge of launching construc- tion of a new oil refinery in the South Asian country’s Balochistan Province, an official from the Middle Eastern oil producer has said.
UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi told Arab News on October 4: “We are going to launch one of the biggest investments in a refinery project in Hub very soon.”
He said the UAE’s Mubadala Petroleum, OMV and the two government’s Pak Arab Refinery (PARCO) joint venture would invest $5bn in the venture, with construction expected to begin before the end of the year. Al-Zaabi said the parties involved were still hashing out the fine details of the project, which was the result of “extensive discussions” and many meetings.
He said a delegation from the UAE, headed by Mubadala CEO Musabbeh Al-Kaabi, had met
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 40 09•October•2019