ONGC commissions Rs 6,000 crore projects to boost oil, gas output

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has commissioned two projects costing Rs 6,000 crore to add 7.5 million tonnes of oil production and 1 billion cubic meters of gas output over the life of the Mumbai High fields, as it doubles down efforts to raise productivity from mature and aging fields.

A Rs 3,740-crore spend has been made on a state-of-the-art 8-legged water injection-cum-living quarter platform, as part of the Mumbai High South Redevelopment Phase-IV, while Rs 2,292.46 crore have been spent on Cluster-8 marginal field development project at Mumbai High, the company said in a statement.

"The two projects will result in an incremental gain of 7.5 million tonnes of oil and more than 1 BCM of gas," it said.

Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri dedicated the two major projects to the nation at Western offshore on April 23. He was accompanied by chairman Alka Mittal, Director (T&FS) O P Singh and Director (Offshore) Pankaj Kumar.

"The minister expressed his appreciation for the ONGC team for implementing the two projects. He exhorted ONGC to further enhance their efforts to add more oil and gas to the kitty of nations, adopting accelerated exploration activities," the statement said.

The state-of-the-art 8-legged water Injection-cum-Living Quarter platform has been installed as part of implementation of low salinity water flood (LSWF) process, an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) pilot project, part of the Mumbai High South Redevelopment phase IV at a total capex of Rs 3,740 crore.

The project will result in incremental gain of 3.20 million tonnes of oil and 0.571 BCM of gas.

"This is the first EOR project of Indian offshore. The concept involves reducing the salinity of the injected sea water, which is about 28000 ppm, up to the level of 8250 ppm with a desalination plant.

"The mechanism of LSWF involves complex Crude Oil-Brine-Rock (COBR) interactions for improving both microscopic and macroscopic displacement efficiency," it said.

The project has been implemented with strategic emphasis on local procurement of Rs 1,700 crore, in line with the Make in India Initiative of the government. Out of a total 45 major Pumps/packages in the project, 42 major pump packages have been manufactured in India. 40,000 tonnes of structural steel, enough to make 5 Eiffel Towers have been used in the structure.

The Energy Recovery Unit to save power will result in reducing 8314 MT of C02 emission yearly, there by reducing carbon footprint.

The cluster 8 Marginal Field development project at Mumbai High has been implemented with a total cost of Rs 2,292.46 crore. The project will result in incremental production of 4.38 million tonnes of oil and 0.464 BCM of gas.

These marginal fields were discovered in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The CO2 mitigation system has been implemented for the first time in offshore, as part of the project. The oil and gas is being evacuated through FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offtake), the statement added.