Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) has called off the ultra deep water drilling off the Kochi coast after its efforts to find a sizeable volume of commercial hydrocarbons in the Kerala-Konkan basin reached a dead end.
ONGC officials have decided to pack their bags after the US-based Vantage Group, which did the exploration work for the oil PSU for the past two months, found only hard rock formations even after drilling to a depth of 4,700 metres. “Oil drilling along the basin has reached the final stage. So far, we have not found positive signs of oil presence here,” said Narendra K Verma, Director (Exploration), ONGC.
After the 2009 drilling fiasco, the ONGC decided to restart drilling on January 1, 2014, as the improved imaging, including 2D and 3D projections of the basin, indicated the presence of sedimentary rocks in the block. “Two blocks were drilled in this phase. One deep water rig from ONGC was used for the purpose,” he said.
Unfortunately, the seismic study showed that further drilling will only find more hard rock formations, which are not reservoir rocks. “So we decided to put a cement plug and abandon the well,” sources told Express. The huge financial outflow was another factor which led to the winding up of the ambitious $40-million project in which the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has a 20 per cent stake.
“We had to pay $500,000 per day as rent to the driller vessel. Since chances of getting a positive result turned grim, we finally decided to abandon the mission,” sources said.
It is learnt that the 150-member crew will set sail from the basin on Friday or Saturday.
ONGC’s decision to pursue the capital-intensive project, though the Kochi-Konkan basin is considered a non-lucrative one, had raised eyebrows. The earlier explorations in 15 wells were disappointing.
According to critics, such missions are primarily carried out to retain ONGC’s licence to carry out exploration activities. The exploration licence is issued by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.
ONGC will integrate the data collected in this mission to draw a final conclusion as to whether another round of drilling is needed along the Kerala-Konkan basin, Verma said. ONGC has been scouting for traces of hydrocarbons off the Kochi coast since 1977.
However, several missions were called off due to the significant financial drain on the state-owned company.