ONGC to Drill 22 Exploratory Wells in Tamil Nadu

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) (BSE: 500312) (Dehradun, Uttarakhand) proposed to drill 22 onshore exploratory wells in the Ramanathapuram block in Tamil Nadu. The block is spread over an area of 493 square kilometers (km).

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) (New Delhi) has approved the Mining License for Ramanathapuram exploratory drilling project for a period of seven years. The project is likely to incur an investment of $66 million. A total of 57 existing wells have already been drilled in five onshore fields in the area. ONGC plans to carry out exploratory activities in two blocks namely 'L-X' and 'L-XII'.

The company is currently producing Natural Gas from the Upper Cretaceous reservoirs in the Kanjirangudi, Periyapattinam, Ramanvalasi, Perungulam and Palk bay shallow fields located in the Ramanathapuram district of the state. The natural gas exploited from these fields provides raw material to the fertilizer plants in Southern India. The enhanced production from the block is also likely feed the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal in Kochi.

According to ONGC, the exploratory project would involve water-based Mud Drilling. The drilling depths of the wells are likely to vary from 3,000 meters to 5,000 meters. The exploratory work would involve site preparation, well foundation, rig building, drilling, and the restoration of the well site. The total water requirement for the project has been estimated at 20 cubic meters per day, per well. Two Diesel Generator (DG) sets of 1,200 kilovolt ampere (kVA) each will be installed to meet the power requirement for the drilling project.

ONGC is India's leading oil and gas exploration company. ONGC has, so far, produced about 600 million metric tons of crude oil and supplied more than 200 billion cubic meters of gas since its inception. The company is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India and owns and operates more than 11,000 kilometers of pipelines in the country.

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