GSPC to start operations from KG discovery next week

Hydrofracking is a technique in which the well-rock is fractured by a liquid

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has initiated production from its Deen Dayal West (DDW) block located in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.  

While the experimental well is undergoing clean-up through hydro-fracturing, by first week of May, DDW will produce an estimated 40 million cubic feet of gas per day.  For the first time, GSPC would be using the hydro-fracturing (HF) technology for gas production at a ultra deep high pressure high temperature (HPHT) block.

Developed by GSPC at a depth of 5,000 metres below the sea bed, wells drilled in DDW fall in the high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) category with temperature of 400 degree Fahrenheit and pressure of 12,000 PSI.

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as Hydrofracturing or Hydrofracking, is a well-stimulation technique in which the well-rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid. The process involves high-pressure injection of ‘Fracking Fluid’ (primarily water, containing sand or other proppants carried with the aid of viscous fluid) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations, through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely.

When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants (either sand or aluminium oxide) hold the fractures open. According to GSPC officials, with a reserve of 1.6 trillion cubic feet (tcf), production at the high pressure high temperature (HPHT) DDW could go upto 200 million cubic feet per day with more wells being built going forward.  

“We began the clean up on Wednesday which should take four-five days. By first week of May we would be commencing production of gas from the well.  While we have modified a sub-optimal well which was not conventionally designed for hydro-fracturing, we will look at building more wells as soon as the production commences,” a GSPC official said.

As part of the clean up, the state-run E&P player carried out multiple stages of HF successfully in the sub-optimal well and could pump almost a million pounds of proppants in over 10 HF zones.  “We exceeded our expectation during the clean up from a planned 600,000 pounds of proppants in six zones to injecting nearly a million pounds in around 10-12 zones,” the official added.

According to the government guidelines, GSPC would be supplying the gas hence produced to Nagarjuna Fertilizers even as it looks to close the bidding process for further agreements.  

GSPC has hired services of international HF firms like Haliburton, Barry & Associates, E-Frac and Xodus for the process.