ONGC approves Rs 4,500-mn investment

New Delhi: The board of ONGC, while taking note of four new oil and gas discoveries, approved an investment of about Rs 450 crore to enhance its exploration and production capabilities.

The company said that its board took note of three new western onshore and one Krishna Godavari offshore discoveries notified to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) after the last board meeting held on July 28.

ONGC said that its exploratory well Linch-65, Jotana- Warosan ML Block in western onshore gave influx of oil and gas. The South Kadi-144 well in Balasar PEL Block has been found to be oil bearing with gas, the company said adding that Halisa-12 well in Halisa ML Block is producing oil.

The exploratory well GS-15-AO, KG offshore, KG-PG basin has tested oil and gas, the company said.

The ONGC board has also approved a major lay up repair of jack-up Rig Sagar Ratna to refurbish the rig to international standards. The total cost of the project is Rs 423.2 crore.

This repair job will be carried out by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd at a cost of Rs 353.57 crore, the statement said adding that other charges include to and fro towing charges (Rs 20.30 crore) and allied services (Rs 48.23 crore).

The board also gave its nod for hiring of consultancy for acquiring/constructing a FPSO (Floating Production and Storage Offloading) on international competitive bidding (ICB) basis.

The expected cost for the consultancy would be approximately Rs 26.88 crore. The new FPSO will be initially used to develop marginal fields in the Arabian Sea, it said. The FPSO can also be deployed in extended testing and in early monetisation of fields.