New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has declared a 2019 natural gas discovery in a deep-sea block in Brazil as "commercially viable" and has said that it has now entered the development stage that will now bring it to production, said the PSU in a statement. "OVL had registered a major gas discovery in 2019 in its deep offshore block BM-SEAL-4, Brazil, located in the Sergipe Alagoas Basin. Brazil's Petrobras is the operator of the block with 75 percent Participating Interest (PI) while OVL has the remaining 25 percent stake," the statement said.
After detailed evaluation, the natural gas discovery "now enters into the development stage with the submission of the Declaration of Commerciality (DoC) for the block BM-SEAL-4," said OVL in the statement. The field also holds oil reserves.
"The name suggested to the Brazilian regulator for the field is Budião," it said. "The development module is presently in the contract planning phase and is expected to start production after 2026. The consortium plans to continue all operational activities for submission of the Development Plan to the Regulator and meeting the target for the first oil," said the statement.
The block development module of Petrobras envisages the installation of a shared FPSO and a gas pipeline.
The block is located in the Sergipe Alagoas Offshore Basin in Northern Brazil and has an area of 320 square Km, with water depths ranging from 1,500 to 2,700 metres. Exploratory block BM-Seal-4 was originally awarded to Petrobras in August 2000. ONGC Videsh farmed in to the block on June 4, 2007 with 25 percent PI as part of a swap agreement between ONGC Videsh and Petrobras (75 percent PI).
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