BG Group plans $500-million investment

British energy company BG Group plans to invest $500 million over the next five years in its Indian operations, according to Walter Simpson, managing director of BG India.

"We are looking at both upstream and downstream opportunities in India for expansion. We already have some presence in the upstream sector in this country," he said on the sidelines of the Petrotech-2010 oil and gas conference here.

The company also aims to increase production from its Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields off the west coast. BG India is the operator of the Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields, with consortium partners Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Reliance Industries. The fields together produced close to 46 million barrels of oil and oil equivalent in 2009.

Simpson said the company would complete the installation of Panna L platform by December and production would start in early 2011. "With the completion of Panna L, our production from the field is expected to increase," he said.

Panna/Mukta field produces around 35,000 barrels of oil daily and 6.16 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) of gas, while Tapti field produces seven mscmd of gas. During this calendar year, the consortium completed three development wells in Mid Tapti and South Tapti.

Besides Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields, BG group has a 45 per cent stake in exploration block KG-OSN-2004/1 in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, and 30 per cent operating interest in another deepwater block, KG-DWN-2009/1.

He said the company was making efforts to expand its position in India through farm-in opportunities. In 2008, BG India signed a farm-in agreement with ONGC to acquire a 25 per cent stake in exploration block MN-DWN-2002/2 in the Mahanadi Basin on the east coast.

Simpson said the company was also trying to acquire a stake in ONGC's prospective Krishna-Godavari Basin block KG-98/2 after two foreign partners, Petrobras of Brazil and Norsk Hydro of Norway, exited the block.

"We have shown interest to pick up a stake in KG-98/2. The process is still going on," he said. The British company also occasionally supplies liquefied natural gas to India.