On the heels of the Government announcing a slew of reforms in the oil and gas sector, state-run explorer ONGC on Saturday said it will finalise ‘a multi- billion dollar investment plan’ for the 98/2 fields of D5 Block in the KG Basin by the month-end or early April.
The D5 Blocks will be the second largest oil and gas fields for both ONGC and in the country, with the largest being the Bombay High oil fields and the Bhasin gas fields.
“We will finalise a multi-billion dollar investment for our 98/2 fields in D5 Block in the KG Basin by the end of the month or early next month. I cannot divulge exact quantum of the investment, but I can assure you that it will be in multi-billion dollars,” ONGC chairman and managing director SK Sarraf told reporters here.
This will be the largest investment in a single field by ONGC in its over six decades of existence, he said. When asked for an approximate investment amount, the chairman refused to quantify, saying, “we are yet to finalise the details. But it will be in multiple billions.” Company sources, however, told PTI that "going by the size of the fields and ultra-deep water drilling involved, it should be anywhere over $4 billion over the next three years when we will commission the project.”
Sarraf said on completion of the development by end 2019, the 98/2 fields in the D5 Block in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) Basin off Andhra coast, will be able to pump out 75,000 barrels a day of oil and 17 million standard cubic metres a day of gas. “Over the next 15 years beginning 2020, we will see our output touching 23 million barrels of oil and 50.7 million cubic metres of gas from this field. We expect to achieve peak production levels by FY22,” he said.