ONGC plans to redevelop Bombay High at Rs 10k cr

KOLKATA: ONGC is putting final touches to a Rs 10,000-crore redevelopment plan for Bombay High, the country’s most prolific oilfield. ONGC director (offshore) NK Mitra said: “We are due to undertake a massive redevelopment of Bombay High (North) to raise productivity of the field. It is likely to cost Rs 8,000 to 10,000 crore.” The redevelopment will be executed during ’07-12.

“The capex plan, being finalised now, is likely to be placed before the ONGC board within the three months,” he added. Last week, the ONGC board had cleared a proposal to invest Rs 2,300 crore on the redevelopment of marginal fields in Heera and south Heera oil field in Mumbai offshore.

Incidentally, the redevelopment is part of routine steps taken by all large oil companies to maintain the yield and output levels. A similar redevelopment was carried out in ‘00 at an investment of Rs 9,000 crore.

ONGC’s target is to produce an additional 40-45m tonnes of oil at Bombay High (North) over a 20-year span. The field now produces around 12.5m tonnes of oil per annum. With the redevelopment, ONGC expects to improve recoverability at Bombay High (North) to 34-35% from the present 30-32%. “Our aim is to improve recovery ratio by 3-4% with each redevelopment initiative,” Mr Mitra said.

ONGC will also pump in Rs 2,300 crore on three replacement platforms at Bombay High (north and south) over the next month and a half. This is part of a continuing effort by the country’s largest oil exploration and production company to arrest the decline in output of one of its oldest oilfields.

ONGC’s total production has suffered a dip since last year when a devastating fire destroyed an entire platform in Bombay High (N). Against 51.6m tonnes of accretion to reserves, the company produced some 49.6 mt of oil and oil equivalent last year.