MUMBAI: After operating it for 25 years, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and BG Exploration & Production India Ltd (BGEPIL), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, will hand over the Panna-Mukta oil and gas fields back to the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd.
“The Panna-Mukta and Tapti (PMT) Joint Venture partners will hand over the Panna-Mukta oil and gas fields back to the Government of India’s nominee ONGC on December 21, 2019,” RIL and Shell said in a joint statement.
The PMT JV constituents include ONGC, RIL and BG Exploration, each holding 40 per cent, 30 per cent and 30 per cent participating interest respectively. The Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) for the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields, which were executed by the PMT JV with the Centre since 1994, will expire on December 21, 2019.
“Shell is proud to have been part of this journey and privileged to have partnered with Reliance, ONGC and the Government of India,” said Trivikram Arun, MD, BGEPIL.
The PMT fields were the first fields in India to be operated under a Joint Operatorship model. The oil fields off the Mumbai coast have produced 211 million barrels (MMBBL) of oil and 1.25 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas since December 1994. In 2019, the average monthly production from the fields was about 10,000 bbls per day of crude oil and 140 mmscf per day of natural gas.
“At their peak, Panna-Mukta have contributed to nearly 6 per cent of India’s oil production and almost 7 per cent of gas production in 2007-08. Reliance has been a part of this journey and contributed, by providing energy, to the growth and development of India’s oil and gas sector,” saod B Ganguly, president (E&P), Reliance Industries.
The Tapti fields had ceased production earlier in 2016 and the Tapti process platform facilities were handed over to ONGC that year. Decommissioning and site restoration of residual Tapti facilities, including five unmanned platforms and in-field pipelines, are currently being carried out by the PMT JV.