Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) has drilled 503 wells in 2017-18. This is the highest number of wells drilled in last 27 years. These 503 wells included, 119 exploratory and 384 development wells. In its 60 years of illustrious journey, ONGC crossed many a milestone to realize the energy aspirations of India.However, this is one of the most significant ones. Exploratory drilling was stressed. It assessed the prospectivity of existing acreages in a time boung manner & added to comapny’s reserve base.
During FY’18, ONGC’s planned capex outlay on drilling activities was Rs 16,038 crore. This targeted to drill 496 wells including 110 exploratory and 386 development wells. However, the company has drilled 503 wells at a cost of approx Rs 14,200 crore. It is 11.5% lower than the budget outlay. The initiatives taken by the company to optimize cost and enhance operational efficiencies have yielded additional savings in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018.
This is the second consecutive year that ONGC has drilled over 500 wells. Last year, the company drilled 501 wells at a cost of Rs 15,440 crore. This comes at a times when the company is looking to step up domestic output. It is in line with the clarion call by Hon’ble Prime Minister to reduce 10 percent import dependence by 2022.
Speaking about the achievement, Mr Shashi Shanker, CMD ONGC said, “We have taken measures to improve our operational efficiency by better well designs, inducting new technologies, improving cycle-speed, standardization of well testing procedures and minimizing idling period of rigs”.
What’s more remarkable is that among the 119 exploratory wells drilled, 8 were in the deep-water fields against initial target of 6 and 45 in shallow-water fields against target of 38.
ONGC has aimed at a more focused approach in drilling operations. Therefore, Mumbai Haigh (MH) Asset of the company rolled out a new concept ‘Company within Company’. It brought about operational efficiency in offshore drilling operations. “The plan has already paid rich dividends as MH Asset achieved highest-ever cycle and commercial speeds”, Mr Shanker said.
This year, ONGC has set a capex outlay of Rs 17,615 crore on drilling activities. The company plans a significant upside in number of deepwater developement wells. It has set an ambitious target to drill 535 wells, of which 24 are deep-water development wells as part of Cluster-2 development of KG-DWN-98/2 project, off the East-Coast of India. As apart of its CBM developement project, the company will drill 30 wells.
