Page 149 - CW E-Magazine (1-10-2024)

Hydrocarbons Hydrocarbons

OVERSEAS ASSETS EXPLORATION
ONGC Videsh inks new gas deal in Azerbaijan OALP-IX bid round attracts four bidders; Reliance-

ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), along ONGC said. This is effective till the reservoirs, and were not initially BP-ONGC team up
with the State Oil Company of Azer- end of the existing ACG PSA in 2049. included in the existing ACG PSA.
baijan (SOCAR), BP, MOL, Inpex, The NAG resources of ACG are believed India’s biggest oil and gas bid have teamed up with ONGC to bid for Of the 28 blocks on offer, four
Equinor, ExxonMobil, TPAO and to be signifi cant, with up to 4-trillion In 2022, ACG co-venturers and round – Open Acreage Licensing Policy a shallow water block in the Gujarat- blocks got three bids each, while
Itochu, have signed an addendum to cubic feet (tcf) in place, it added. SOCAR agreed to drill a data well into bid round IX (OALP-IX) – attracted Saurashtra basin. the rest had two bidders, one being
the existing production sharing agree the NAG reservoirs to collect gas pres- four bidders that included state-owned Vedanta.
ment (PSA) for ACG fi eld in the Azer- The participating interests of the sure data. The data well was completed ONGC and OIL and private sector In the previous eighth round of
baijan sector of Caspian Sea. OVL had ACG co-venturers in the NAG project in 2023, and interpretation of the data Vedanta Ltd., with most blocks getting OALP, ONGC had not bid for the Blocks are awarded to fi rms offer-
acquired the participating interest (PI) in are the same as in the existing ACG confi rmed the presence of natural gas just two bids, according to Directorate ultra-deepsea Krishna Godavari basin ing the highest share of revenues gene-
the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli PSA, i.e., BP (30.37%), SOCAR (25%), resources within the expected pressure General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). block that Reliance-BP combine had rated from oil and gas produced from
(ACG) project in 2013. MOL (9.57%), Inpex (9.31%), Equinor range. In accordance with the adden- sought. the blocks and the work programme
(7.27%), ExxonMobil (6.79%), TPAO dum, SOCAR and ACG co-venturers
The addendum, or extension, (5.73%), Itochu (3.65%), OVL (2.31%). are now planning next steps for the The OALP-IX bid round, where 28 they commit to.
amends the ACG PSA enabling the development of NAG reservoirs. As blocks or areas spread over 1.36-lakh The DGH, on September 23, re- Of the 28 blocks offered in OALP-
square kilometres were offered for leased the names of the bidders for the
parties to go ahead with the exploration, BP remains the operator of the ACG part of this, an initial well is to be fi nding and producing oil and gas, for 28 blocks offered under the OALP-IX IX, nine are onshore, eight shallow-
appraisal, development and production PSA. NAG reservoirs are multiple geo- drilled to produce gas from two priority the fi rst time saw Reliance Industries round, bids for which closed on Sep- water and 11 ultra-deepwater across
from the non-associated natural gas logical formations beneath and reservoirs with the fi rst gas production Ltd. BP combine bidding together tember 21. ONGC bid for 14 blocks eight sedimentary basins, with an area
(NAG) reservoirs of the ACG fi eld, above the currently producing oil is expected in 2025. with ONGC for one block in Gujarat alone and with partners such as state- of 136,596.45-sq.km.
GAIL to connect isolated fi elds with national grid offshore. owned Oil India Ltd. (OIL) and Indian The government introduced the
Oil Corporation (IOC) for four other
for 3.5-mscmd natural gas in just two of the past eight oil and gas Reliance-BP, ONGC, in all, bid for 19 fi rms to develop India’s upstream
Reliance and its partner BP had bid blocks. After considering its bid with OALP in 2017 to attract oil and gas
State-run GAIL India Ltd. is work- Explaining the rationale, the offi cial natural gas (PNG) used in households’ bid rounds since 2017. Reliance-BP out of the 28 blocks on offer. Anil Agar- sector. The OALP guarantees marketing
ing on a project to connect isolated gas said connecting isolated fi elds with the segments. It will minimise logistics combine had bid and won the two wal-owned Vedanta bid for all the 28 and pricing freedom with a revenue-
fi elds to the national grid, which will main grid would increase the availabi- cost and swapping charges as well as blocks they had bid for in the previous blocks on offer, while Sun Petrochemi- sharing model, apart from offering
make available 3.5-million standard lity of domestic gas to compressed natu- will complement the integration of the rounds and this is the fi rst time they cals Ltd. bid for seven areas. reduced royalty rates.
cubic metres per day (mscmd) natural ral gas (CNG) for transport and piped National Gas Grid.
gas for CNG and PNG customers at an MONTH-ON-MONTH TREND
economical rate. Windfall tax on crude oil cut to zero India’s oil imports from Russia down 18% in August
The Finance Ministry has cut the has been taken as Brent crude oil prices
The initiative by the Ministry of windfall tax on domestically produced that had been hovering around $73 per
Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), petroleum crude to zero from Rs. 1,850 barrel earlier, fell below $70 per barrel, India’s monthly oil imports from after rising for fi ve straight months, Due to a decline in intake of Rus-
as part of its fi rst 100 days target, per tonne, effective from September 18, which is the lowest since December Russia fell by 18.3% to about 1.7-mil- the data showed. In July, Russian oil sian oil, the share of OPEC nations in
involves procurement of compressors as per a notifi cation. This is the second 2021. The government, had with effect lion barrels per day (bpd) in August accounted for about 44% of India’s oil India’s overall purchases rose to a four-
and using them to convert low pressure time the tax has been lowered to zero. from the July 1, 2022, imposed certain from the previous month due to lower imports. Despite the decline, Russia month high in August, driven by higher
gas from isolated fi elds to high pressure duties/cesses on domestically produced crude processing by some refi ners, remained the top oil supplier to India purchases of Iraqi oil. However, the
gas, which can be injected into the The decision to cut the windfall levy crude petroleum. Reuters reported, based on tanker data in August, followed by Iraq and Saudi share of OPEC oil in India’s imports
national gas grid, an unnamed senior obtained from trade sources. Arabia, the data showed. in the fi rst fi ve months of the fi scal
government offi cial was quoted as saying KMML invites engineering design bids for year starting in April has slipped to an
world’s all-time low.
India,
the
In contrast, China stepped up
Overall,
in a Hindu BusinessLine report. LPG storage purchases of Russian oil in August, third-biggest oil importer and consu-
“This will help in increasing the Kerala Minerals & Metals Ltd. out basic front end engineering design reclaiming the spot of Moscow’s top mer, imported 4.7-million bpd of oil in The share of Middle Eastern oil
availability of gas by about 3.5-mscmd. (KMML) has invited bids for engi- (FEED) and project report preparation oil client after India became the biggest August, down by about 1% from July. in India’s August crude imports rose
The effective cost of the increase is neering design services for the setting for the LPG storage and allied facilities buyer for the fi rst time in July. India’s imports of Saudi Arabian oil to 44.6% from 40.3% in July. During
expected to be only about 50 paisa up of a 200-tonnes new LPG storage at KMML’s titanium dioxide pigment in August declined to the lowest since April-August, the region’s share dec-
per kg of CNG for the fi nal consumer,” and vaporisation facility in Kollam, unit. The end date for bid submission The share of Russian oil in India’s July 2023 to about 498,200-bpd, the lined to about 44% from about 46%
he added. Kerala. The agency will need to carry is October 7, 2024. August imports declined to about 36% data showed. a year ago.

148 Chemical Weekly October 1, 2024 Chemical Weekly October 1, 2024 149

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