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ONGC tests first KG-D5 well
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
INDIA’S state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has tested the first well at its deepwater KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin.
The company’s offshore director, Rajesh Kakkar, told an industry conference on March 9 that regular flows from the well could start “in the next couple of days or in a week”.
KG-D5 has been split into the 3,800-square km Northern Discovery Area (NDA) and 3,494-square km Southern Discovery Area (SDA). The former contains 11 oil and gas dis- coveries, while SDA holds the country’s only ultra-deepwater gas find.
ONGC intends to invest $5bn in the KG-D5 development, which is predicted to increase the company’s gas production significantly over the coming years.
“As far as oil is concerned till 2022, 2023 and 2024, you can take same level plus 2mn tonnes [40,000 barrels per day] on account of KG 98/2 coming online. Current fiscal we will produce over 25bn cubic metres of gas. From 2021-2022, when KG 98/2 starts contributing in a major way, from that time onwards the production will be between 32-35 bcm. So, between 2021 and 2024 there will be a build-up annually with production rate around 32 bcm, and in 2023-2024 it will reach around 35 bcm, lower than our earlier
guidance of 40 bcm,” a company executive told an analyst call in November 2019.
India has introduced more attractive poli- cies, such as pricing and marketing freedoms, to encourage developers to tackle more expensive and challenging fields. The government wants to reduce its dependence on foreign supplies of oil and gas.
Indian liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyers have already signed long-term supply contracts for a total of 22mn tonnes per year (tpy) and con- tinue to look to diversify their portfolios.
Reuters reported in February that the coun- try’s largest LNG importer, Petronet LNG, was seeking to sign a 10-year supply deal for the fuel, with first deliveries to begin in 2024. The com- pany issued a request for information (RFI) for the purchase of about 1mn tpy, with an option to extend the contract’s duration.™
Pertamina plans “aggressive” drilling campaign
SOUTHEAST ASIA
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
INDONESIA’S state-owned Pertamina has said it will increase its upstream investment in order to continue “aggressively” drilling wells.
The company intends to expand its capital expenditure by 84% year on year in 2020 to $7.8bn, up from $4.2bn in 2019. The increased funds will allow Pertamina to drill 411 wells this year, up 17% from the 351 wells recorded in 2019.
Pertamina president director Nicke Wid- wayati said: “The biggest investment is in the upstream sector, amounting to $3.7bn, so that Pertamina can continue to increase oil and gas production in order to reach the target of 1mn barrels[perday(bpd)].”
While upstream regulator SKK Migas set a national oil production target of 1mn bpd by 2030 in January, output has been in decline for a number of years. Oil production slid from
772,000 bpd in 2018 to 746,000 bpd in 2019 and SKK Migas has even warned production might fall to 705,000 bpd this year.
The regulator said on March 4 that gas pro- duction was anticipated to more than double to 12.3bn cubic feet (348.34mn cubic metres) per day, or 127.14bn cubic metres per year, by 2030.
Widwayati said his company was looking to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects as well as exploiting new resources in existing large fields to help it contribute to the government’s 2030 production goals.
The executive, however, added: “There needs to be a breakthrough in the commercial, regu- latoryandtechnologicalsidetorealisethepro- duction target.”
Widwayati said the company aimed to pro- duce 923,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day this year, up from 906,000 boepd in 2019. He
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 10 12•March•2020