Oil India looking to increase exploratory wells in offshore areas: CMD

The number of footfalls, the richness of content, the display of success stories in the second edition of IEW speaks volumes. This is a conglomeration of not only Indian players to display their prowess, but all the stakeholders in the oil and gas value chain are here, including Indian oil companies and global oil majors and service providers. So, the kind of engagement that we are having here is immensely beneficial.

We had serious discussions on the collaborations that we intend to have with major global oil companies. We also had engaging discussions with service providers who are keen to collaborate with us and see opportunities for collaboration in our plans for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), both in terms of seismic data acquisition, processing, interpretation, re-processing of vintage data, drilling both exploratory and development wells, the workover operations that we have planned out, the various interventions that we have planned to enhance our production. So, we have had very meaningful discussions where people have evinced interest in participating in our procurement process and technology exchange. We have a technology induction programme where they have said that they want to participate and we are encouraging it.

We have had discussions with almost all the oil majors in attendance here at IEW and it’s not right to name anybody specifically at this stage.

It’s too early to have a view on this because India today is a bright spot in terms of exploration. The deep and the ultra-deep waters on the East Coast and the West Coast and the Andaman and Nicobar basin within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has just been unlocked. It is about 1 million square km, which is about 1/3rd of the total sedimentary basin which is available in the country for exploration. So, while the Category I, II and III basins in India are being pursued for exploration, the offshore exploration is going to open up a new vista (because of opening of EEZ). A lot of data acquisition has already been done by the government under the National Seismic Programme. We have an exploration acreage of 60,000 square km. Going forward, we are planning to participate in the future bidding rounds and also increase our exploratory wells in offshore areas.

We are actually pursuing very aggressive, production-intensive interventions. We are looking into wells which were earlier considered sick and bringing them into production. We are looking at hydraulic fracturing to enhance our production. We are looking at enhanced oil recovery as part of our production campaign. We are also looking at putting electric submersible pumps to enhance production. We are looking at new areas through near-surface exploration where we are going to drill and also discover. We have also undertaken a very successful cyclic steam stimulation initiative. So due to this overall campaign, we are getting results. We are also drilling deeper horizons to find more oil in the same mining lease.

Oil India has got 10 assets abroad in seven countries. Some of them are producing assets Some of them are developing assets. Some of them are exploration assets. Barring one, at all other projects, it is the operator who decides or takes a call as far as operations are concerned. And we are invested there. So some of the projects that have been on a hiatus due to a force majeure, there are tractions that have been started. So, it will be better that the operators of these blocks make an official statement.

While we are looking at collaborations with international oil companies to make India as their destination for exploration, we are also in talks to acquire assets abroad. Those discussions are at various stages.

Along with looking at depleted reservoirs, we are also looking at abandoned wells, which is not so successful so far to use as a pilot case for Carbon Dioxide sequestration. In the pore spaces of the reservoirs, at a depth of 2,000-metre-plus where we have adequate porosity, adequate salinity and the proximity to the source, we are studying the possibility of Carbon sequestration. Feasibility studies are underway.