BPCL exploration arm to drill 16 wells this year

Bharat PetroResources (BPRL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run oil marketer Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), said it expected to drill 16 wells by this fiscal-end and was hopeful of making further discoveries in its blocks in the country, as well as overseas.

"We have taken up drilling of wells in India, Mozambique, Brazil, Australia and Indonesia and consider them to be highly prospective areas. We expect to drill as many as 16 wells by the end of this fiscal and find further discoveries in these blocks," BPRL Chairman RK Singh said.

"Our entry into the upstream exploration and production sector in 2006 was the first step in BPCL's attempt to become an integrated oil company," Singh added.

The company today has 27 blocks, out of which nine which acquired by the company under different rounds of the New Exploration Licencing Policy (NELP) are located within the country and 18 are abroad, spanning six countries.

With 27 exploration blocks spread over seven countries, the strategy going forward will be to consolidate their position in these blocks and basins, he said.

Efforts will also be made to augment the company's portfolio of acreages, Singh added.

In 2010-11, the company made discoveries in Brazil, Mozambique and Indonesia. It has also discovered natural gas in four of six wells drilled in Mozambique, besides light hydrocarbons in offshore Brazil and oil and gas in Indonesia.

"Work on the exploration phase is also progressing in the domestic blocks where BPRL holds a stake. The company has also bid in partnership with other oil companies for blocks offered under the NELP-IX round and the consortia led by BPRL has been shortlisted for three blocks," Singh said.

Besides India, BPRL holds blocks in Australia, Brazil, East Timor, Indonesia, Mozambique and Britain. BPRL's total acreage in all these blocks is around 81,000 sq km, of which around 90% are offshore acreages. These blocks are in various stages of exploration.

With the seven recent discoveries in Brazil, Mozambique and Indonesia, BPRL is now poised to guarantee returns to its parent BPCL in the short-term, as well as meet its larger goal of ensuring energy security for the country in the long-term, he said.

The idea behind the formation of BPRL, which has been participating in bidding in oil and gas blocks under various NELP rounds and overseas, was to insulate BPCL from high oil price volatility and meet as much as 30% of the parent firm's crude requirement from its own E&P business.

BPCL and other public sector oil marketing companies like Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum have been hit hard by rising crude prices globally, as the country imports over 80% of its oil requirement.