ONGC awaits DGH nod for $5 billion KG-D5 gas plan

NEW DELHI: State owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp is awaiting nod of upstream regulator DGH to commence investing $5.07 billion in bringing to production oil and gas discoveries in its Bay of Bengal block KG-D5.

About a year back ONGC submitted to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) a field development plan (FDP) for bringing to production 10 oil and gas discoveries in KG basin block KGDWN-98/2 (KGD5), which sits next to Reliance Industries flagging KG-D6 fields. DGH so far has not approved it, an official said.

A meeting of the block oversight panel, Management Committee (MC) headed by DGH, has been called next week to review the FDP, he said. “Without waiting for the approval, tendering for long-lead items has started to ensure the 2019-20 schedule for starting production is not missed,” he said.

The board of ONGC had on March 28 approved an investment of $5,076.37 million for developing Cluster-II discoveries.