ONGC board approves cluster development of four marginal fields in Western Offshore

New Delhi, July 1 (ANI): ONGC Board in its 206th meeting held on 30th June, 2010 has in principle approved the cluster development of WO-5, WO-15, WO-16 and B-119/121 fields in the Western Offshore about 140 km to the West of Mumbai and 40 km South of Mumbai High.

The conservative estimate of in-place oil and gas in these fields are 8.57 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) and 11.024 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM) respectively with cumulative production of 2.83 MMT of oil and 8.58 BCM of gas.

Development of these fields on stand alone basis or using conventional production methodology was not deemed economically viable in the past.

Now, ONGC plans an innovative methodology of converting its first drillship Sagar Samrat of 1973 vintage into a Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) and using the same for production of oil and gas from these fields.

This has significantly reduced the capex for the project and has made it economically viable with improved price realisations for oil as well as gas, inspite of considering very conservative estimates of production profile. (ANI)