More Oil, Gas Found Amid Rise In Imports

New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has made new oil and gas discoveries in the Mumbai Offshore hydrocarbon basin that are expected to enhance the production of the upstream oil giant in the near future. The discoveries, which have been named ‘Suryamani’ and ‘Vajramani’, have been struck in blocks awarded under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) regime, the ONGC said in a statement issued as part of its January-March quarterly financial results. Exploratory well MBS202HAA-1 on Block MB-OSHP-2020/2 yielded 2,235 barrels per day of oil and 45,181 million cubic metres a day of gas during testing done in the January-March quarter.

Apart from Mumbai offshore, ONGC made another hydrocarbon discovery in the KG basin land block during the January-March quarter. Exploratory well Yandapalli-1, drilled down to a depth of 3,958 metres in Malleswaram PML in the onland sector of KG Basin, found oil and gas reserves, the ONGC said.

The discoveries have provided hope at a time when India’s imports of oil and gas have been steadily increasing due to ONGC’s ageing oil and gas fields. Currently, around 85 per cent of the country’s oil requirement is met through imports.