Project Profile
Location: Mumbai Offshore Basin, India
Reserves: 350-500 bcf (billion cubic feet)
Reservoir depth: 2,000-2,500 m
The consortium of ONGC and Essar made a natural gas discovery in the Mumbai Offshore Basin. The discovery was made in the first exploratory well MBSO53NAA1 in Block MB-OSN-2005/3 in the Mumbai Offshore Basin, which was awarded under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) VII Round.
The discovery is the first on the west coast in the Pliocene formation, with the reservoir depths being about 1000 metres. The presence of gas at a shallower depth can significantly bring down both costs and the time period involved in commercialising the find, thereby ensuring a quicker access to potential gas reserves. The Operator, on behalf of the Consortium, has filed details of the discovery with the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).
During the conventional testing of the discovery, gas flowed at around 47,000 standard cubic metres per day (scmd) through a 32/64” bean. In a secondary and shallower reservoir object, gas was also encountered during MDT and DST. The Pliocene exploration target was mapped based on a high quality 3D Seismic data acquired by Essar, as Operator, during Phase I of the Exploration Period.
Presently, ONGC with 70% participating interest, is the Operator. The Consortium finds the results encouraging and shall be appraising this discovery to establish the reserves. The total resources could be of the order of in the 350-500 bcf (billion cubic feet) though the estimates should be considered as premature and should be defined based on outcome of appraisal programme. Owing to the relatively shallower depth of the find, if the discovery becomes commercial, it is expected that the time to market should be relatively less due to possible utilisation of existing infrastructure in Mumbai Offshore. The Mumbai High reservoirs are typically at a depth of 2,000-2,500 m while the current find in the Pliocene formation is at a depth of 1,000m.
Operators:
ONGC: Operator with 70% interest
Essar Group: 30% interest