BHUBANESWAR: In a boost to India’s efforts to expand domestic hydrocarbon production, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has struck natural gas in a deepwater exploratory well in the Mahanadi offshore basin, about 43 km off the Konark coast.
The gas discovery was made on September 18 in the MN-DW18-1-H-D well, the maiden well of ONGC’s current deepwater campaign in the Mahanadi Basin under the government’s Samudra Manthan initiative. The well was drilled to a target depth (TD) of 1,623 metres and encountered gas in the 1,441-1,452-metre interval.
ONGC said the well is currently flowing gas at encouraging rates with sustained reservoir pressure. The company, however, will undertake further appraisal and commercial evaluation before determining the size and viability of the discovery.
The proximity of the discovery to the Odisha coast offers potential for early monetisation, subject to further appraisal and commercial evaluation. The discovery will be explored further along with other finds in the area through shared facilities, a framework enabled by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 2025, the company said.
The well was spudded on July 25 by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. ONGC chairman and CEO Arun Kumar Singh, director (technology & field services) Vikram Saxena and director (exploration) OP Sinha visited the drillship Platinum Explorer and interacted with the drilling team on August 27.
The discovery strengthens ONGC’s deepwater exploration programme and India’s efforts to expand its indigenous hydrocarbon resource base. The find, along with other discoveries in the area, could be a candidate for development through shared facilities enabled by the PNG Rules, 2025, officials said.
The company said it will continue to push into deep and ultra-deepwater frontiers in the search for hydrocarbons and towards India’s goal of energy security. The breakthrough comes nearly two decades after ONGC began deepwater exploration in the Mahanadi Basin (MN-DWN-98/3 block) in 2006. Subsequent deepwater drilling by ONGC has estimated multi-trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves, along with the Utkal and Konark offshore discoveries.