BPCL, Videocon's Mozambique gas reserves more than KG-D6

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Videocon Industries’ Mozambique block may have up to 100 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of in-place gas reserves, operator Anadarko Petroleum Corp said on Monday.

Bharat PetroResources, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPCL, and Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Videocon Industries, hold 10 per cent stake each in the Mozambique block, for which US energy major Anadarko Petroleum is the operator. Anadarko holds 36.5 per cent stake in the block.

Anadarko said the total estimated recoverable natural gas resource in Offshore Area 1 was 30-60 tcf, while the upside for total gas in place in the discovered reservoirs in the block was approaching 100 tcf. The reserves are more than the 11 tcf of resources in Reliance Industries’ KG D6 fields.

In a statement, Anadarko said its “Atum exploration well discovered another significant natural gas accumulation within Offshore Area 1”.

Cove Energy Mozambique Rovuma Offshore holds 8.5 per cent in the block, while Mitsui E&P Miozambique accounts for another 20 per cent. The remaining 15 per cent stake is held by Empressa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, Mozambique’s national oil company.

The consortium plans to set up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant to ship the gas to other destinations. “Initially, we will have two trains, expandable by four trains later. The two LNG trains will have a capacity of five million tonnes per annum. There is not much demand for the gas locally,” said a senior BPCL official. “Even the port facility will be augmented to facilitate this,” he added.

The Atum discovery well, which encountered more than 300 net feet (92 metres) of natural gas, is connected to the recent Golfinho discovery, about 16.5 km northwest of Offshore Area 1.

“We estimate this new complex, located entirely within the Offshore Area 1 block, holds more than 10-30 tcf of incremental recoverable natural gas resources,” said Bob Daniels, senior vice-president, Worldwide Exploration. “We plan to immediately commence a four-well appraisal programme of this complex, which has the potential to underpin a large LNG development,” he added.

Consortium members estimate there is sufficient gas in place in Area-1 for up to 10 LNG trains, for 50 million tonnes a year of LNG capacity.

While BPCL’s scrip closed at Rs 711, a rise of 1.22 per cent over the last close, the Videocon Industries scrip was trading at Rs 175, 3.21 per cent higher than its previous close.