Page 14 - AsianOil Week 10 2023

AsianOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AsianOil

ONGC, TotalEnergies

sign offshore deal

GLOBAL INDIA’S state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. soared as a result of the global energy crisis over
(ONGC) has signed a memorandum of under- the past year. India currently gets 85% of its oil
It follows a heads of standing (MoU) with France’s TotalEnergies from overseas.
agreement ONGC for the exploration of deepwater blocks off the ONGC has also said it is in talks with Chev-
signed with ExxonMobil Indian coast. ron and Equinor on joint offshore projects.
last year. The MoU is aimed at supporting ONGC’s "We are open to any kind of partnership
exploration of the blocks while reducing emis- under the production-sharing contract [PSC],
sions from development, especially in Mahanadi be it participating interest or a revenue sharing...
and Andamans, off India’s east coast. we are open to partnership," Pakaj Kumar, head
“We will jointly evaluate exploration and of the company’s offshore assets, said at India
development opportunities to create synergies Energy Week on February 7.
with local economies,” ONGC’s director for ONGC announced last month it would invest
exploration, Sushma Rawat, said in a statement. $3.5bn over the next three to four years to expand
The MoU follows a heads of agreement production at its offshore west coast assets. These
(HoA) that ONGC signed with ExxonMobil on assets currently produce around 41.5mn cubic
deepwater exploration off the country’s east and metres per day of gas and 260,000 barrels per day
west coasts last year. This partnership is focused (bpd) of oil.
on the Krishna Godavari and Cauvery basins off ONGC is targeting first oil at the ultra-deep-
the east coast and the Kutch-Mumbai region off water KG 98/2 block in the Krishna-Godavari
the west coast. basin from May this year. Initially output will
ExxonMobil has also expressed an interest average 10,000-12,000 bpd, but this should
in purchasing a stake in some deepwater blocks ramp up to 45,000 bpd within two to three
belonging to ONGC. months.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil importer Gas production in the Krishna-Godavari
and consumer, and is looking to expand offshore basin is set to rise to 10 mcm per day by May
development to reduce its import bill, which has 2024 from the current 1.7 mcm per day. ™

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