ONGC, which opened seven out of India’s eight oil and gas producing basins, is on the way to open another basin, Vindhyan as it details out commercialisation of a gas discovery in Madhya Pradesh.
An exploratory well in Son valley sector in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district discovered gas, and on tests confirmed commercially available volumes, the company said in a statement.
“Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is on its way to commercialize another Basin, the Vindhyan Basin. This would be the ninth producing Basin of India (and) the eighth by ONGC,” it said.
The firm had in December 2020 opened the eighth Indian Basin – the Bengal Basin, when commercial oil production started from Ashok Nagar discovery.
India has 26 sedimentary basins, covering a total area of 3.4 million square kilometres spread over land and sea. Of these, 7 basins – Krishna Godavari, Mumbai Offshore, Assam Shelf, Rajasthan, Cauvery, Assam-Arakan Fold Belt and Cambay – have commercially producing oil and gas discoveries. Bengal got added to the list in December 2020.
Besides, there are five basins – Saurashtra, Kutch, Vindhyan, Mahanadi and Andaman – which are believed to hold hydrocarbon potential but so far do not have commercially demonstrable discovery. Other basins have very little prospectivity for hydrocarbons.
“Exploratory well Hatta#3 was drilled with the objective to establish commercial potential through detailed testing to acquire reservoir-specific data. The Well Hatta#3 is in the Son valley sector of Madhya Pradesh.
“On testing, the well produced over 62,044 cubic meters per day of gas, thus confirming the production potential of Proterozoic Basin for the first time in India,” the statement said.
ONGC Director (Exploration) RK Srivastava personally supervised the testing activities at the well-site on this historic occasion on March 29, 2022.
Active exploration in the Vindhyan Basin began with the acquisition of seismic data in the late 1980s.
The very first well, Jabera#1, drilled in the Basin in 1991, produced gas of around 2,000 cubic meters/day. Perseverance of ONGC spanned over the next 25 years, with drilling of 26 exploratory wells in the Son and Chambal valley sector of the Vindhyan Basin, notwithstanding 14 of them providing sub-commercial gas flows in the Son Valley.
“Finally, continued efforts have now paid off – the Vindhyan Basin is close to becoming the ninth producing Basin of India,” the statement said.
ONGC said it is fully geared to consolidate this development. With belief in prospectivity, it has already acquired 5 blocks under OALP rounds on the same play trend.
“ONGC is now working out various monetization options for the gas viz. direct marketing to industries in the vicinity, cluster-based gas production through cascade systems, CNG bottling at well-head as the gas is of high calorific value and transportation using available facilities,” the statement said.
While congratulating the team involved in this exercise, ONGC chairman and managing director Alka Mittal said, “It’s a matter of great pride for ONGC as well as the oil and gas industry of the country to realize this aspiration of adding yet another basin with production potential on India’s energy map”.
The company however did not detail the reserves it has discovered or the timelines for starting commercial production.
