ONGC makes massive new discovery at Mumbai High: Report

MAHARATNA oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has discovered offshore fields to the west of its Mumbai High with an in-place reserves of about 20 million tonnes, media report says.
The Mumbai High field annually produces oil and natural gas of about 9 million to 10 million tonnes of oil equivalent. The PSU discovered hydrocarbon reserves...
west of Mumbai High at well WO 24-3 in July. ONGC tested nine zones in the well, international news agency Reuters reported quoting official sources.
The western coast of India comprising other smaller fields along with the Mumbai High makes for 44% of domestic crude oil production.
"One zone alone yielded more than 3,000 barrels per day of oil and there are deeper zones where oil and gas both are encountered," the report said quoting one source. "It is a large discovery going by Indian standards and is in a different play than discoveries made in the neighbouring Mumbai High fields," the source said. ONGC informed the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the upstream advisory arm of the federal oil ministry, about the latest discovery earlier this month. The PSU now plans to drill appraisal wells to determine the size of the new find's recoverable reserves. There are rich natural resources on eastern side as well, India is rich country in the past in future as well. ONGC is struggling to ramp up its output as most of its production comes from mature fields. "It is a good discovery and gives ONGC further hope. This has opened up a new area for exploration around Mumbai High," it added.
ONGC has been witnessing a fall in production over the years following which earlier this year a committee headed by DGH was appointed to monitor the annual work programmes, oversee exploration budgets. The PSU saw a slight increase in crude oil production to 6.444 MT during the April-June 2018 quarter compared with 6.345 MT in the year-ago period. Its gas production jumped from 5.49 bcm to 6.03 bcm during the period. For 2017-18, ONGC plans gas production of 25 bcm and oil production of 25.3 MT.
ONGC is the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in India, contributing around 70 per cent of Indian domestic production. The crude oil is the raw material used by downstream companies like IOC, BPCL, HPCL to produce petroleum products like petrol, diesel, kerosene, naphtha and cooking gas-LPG.
ONGC is India’s top energy company and ranks 20th among global energy majors (Platts).