ONGC cuts peak KG basin crude estimate by 40%

ONGC has cut estimates of peak crude oil and gas output from its $5 billion KG basin project by 35-40% even as it began producing oil from the offshore deepwater field on Sunday.

Production from its KG-DWN-98/2 block will be slowly ramped up and is expected to reach a peak of 45,000 barrels of crude oil per day and more than 10 mmscmd of natural gas, the state-run explorer said on Monday, without specifying when the peak targets will be reached.

The latest estimates are much lower than those shared in May 2017, when ONGC expected the KG block output to peak at 78,000 barrels of oil per day and 15.57 mmscmd of gas. At the time, it had expected the KG block to begin producing gas from June 2019 and oil from March 2020.