Page 7 - AsianOil Week 14 2022

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Oilex restarting gas production

in India’s Cambay field

PROJECTS & AUSTRALIA-BASED Oilex announced on wellsite. GPCB personnel would visit the C-73
COMPANIES April 4 that it was restarting natural gas pro- wellsite in the subsequent days to remove the
duction and sales at India’s Cambay field. This production flange seal, Oilex added.
comes after the company received consent to “Subject to the early removal of the produc-
operate from the Gujarat Pollution Control tion flange seal by GPCB personnel, produc-
Board (GPCB). tion will re-commence immediately thereafter,”
Oilex had been in a dispute with state-run stated Oilex’s CEO, Roland Wessel, stated. “The
Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) over resumption of gas production and re-estab-
ownership in the project. In April 2021, the two lishment of cashflow is an important milestone
companies settled the matter and in June, Oilex for Oilex’s Indian operations, and we look for-
signed a binding agreement to acquire GSPC’s ward to contributing to India’s indigenous gas
55% interest in the Cambay field. supplies.”
While the transfer, which gives the company Wessel noted that production was restarting
a 100% working interest in Cambay, was in the after the Indian government had announced that
process of being wrapped up by late March, Oilex the price of domestic gas would more than dou-
warned that it still needed GPCB permission to ble (See next story). This represented a “material
restart operations at the field. Aspects of a new benefit” to the company’s cash flow, he said.
environmental clearance certificate issued to Oilex recently confirmed that it had a
Oilex in mid-March also needed to be clarified. 10-year extension to the production-shar-
On April 4, the company said the GPBC had ing contract (PSC) in Cambay, expiring in
authorised it to restart Cambay production, as September 2029. The restart of its Cambay
well as approving the use of the Early Gas Pro- operations comes as India works to ramp up
duction Facility (EGPF) at the Cambay C-73 domestic gas production.™

Petrofac wins another O&M

contract from Cairn

PROJECTS & PETROFAC announced on April 5 that it had by Cairn. It has been online for over 13 years, and
COMPANIES been awarded a new operations and mainte- had produced more than 473mn barrels of oil as
nance (O&M) contract by Cairn Oil & Gas, a of July 2021. During the time that the field has
unit of Vedanta that is India’s largest private oil been operational, Cairn Energy sold its Indian
and gas exploration company. business to Vedanta Group.
The 60-month contract is valued at around Cairn now contributes around 25% of India’s
$60mn, the company said, and encompasses domestic oil production, mainly from its Rajast-
services to support Cairn’s Mangala Processing han Block, which contains the Mangala field.
Petrofac will provide Terminal (MPT) in Rajasthan. The scope of Mangala’s sister fields, Bhagyam and Aishwar-
services at Cairn’s work includes “integrated O&M and auxiliary iya, are also significant contributors to the block’s
Mangala Processing services”, Petrofac added. output.
Terminal. The contract is the second to be awarded to Cairn’s deputy CEO, Prachur Sah, cited his
Petrofac by Cairn in recent weeks. In February, company’s vision of helping India achieve energy
Cairn selected Petrofac to provide O&M services self-reliance in Petrofac’s announcements. Last
in support of its upstream oil and gas operations month, Cairn said it would spend $4bn over
at the Ravva field in Andhra Pradesh. Petrofac three years to more than triple its production,
also previously completed a lump-sum engi- as higher oil prices make new investment more
neering, procurement and construction (EPC) attractive.
contract, awarded by Cairn in 2018 for its RDG The company produced 159,000 barrels of
field development project. oil equivalent (boe) during the fourth quarter
Mangala was India’s largest onshore discov- of 2021. It is aiming to raise its contribution to
ery in 25 years when it was announced in 2004 India’s total output to 50%.™

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