ONGC to start production from Gulf of Kutch in two years
Development is significant in view of the government's target to cut import dependence on oil by 10 percentage points to 67% by 2022 from 2015 levels
New Delhi: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) will start hydrocarbon production in about two years from the Gulf of Kutch off India’s west coast, the country’s eighth sedimentary basin to go live, chairman D.K. Sarraf said.
The development is significant in view of the government’s target to cut import dependence on oil by 10 percentage points to 67% by 2022 from 2015 levels.
Sarraf said on the sidelines of a conference here that the discovery made in the Gulf of Kutch is in shallow waters. Out of the country’s 26 sedimentary basins, only seven have commercial production of oil and gas at present. Assam, Cambay, Mumbai Offshore, Rajasthan, Krishna Godavari, Cauvery and Assam-Arakan Fold Belt are the producing basins.
ONGC has been trying to add more production acreage as well as to boost output from existing producing fields. “The government has examined what needs to be done in view of the import reduction goal and has given targets to (state-owned) oil companies. We are working on our targets," said an executive from ONGC, who asked not to be named.
ONGC had reported 23 oil and gas discoveries, a record, in 2016-17, the chairman said. State-owned oil and gas companies have announced capital expenditure on exploration and development of discovered fields in the last few years, going against the global trend of cutting back on capital spending in view of the muted oil prices. (Ends) PTI contributed to this story.
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