ONGC to Drill 24 New Wells in the Cauvery Basin

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--India's state-owned Oil and Gas Exploration Company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) (BSE: 500312) (Dehradun, Uttarakhand) has planned a major exploratory drilling in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu state. A total of 24 new exploratory wells have been proposed to be drilled at the on-shore block 'L-II' in the Cauvery Basin in the Southern India.

The block, with an area of 1,545 square kilometers, is located in the central part of the Cauvery on-land Basin. The project involves an investment of $95.83 million. ONGC has already acquired Environmental Clearance for the drilling work from the country's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) (New Delhi). The Terms of References (ToRs) were issued in July 2011.

ONGC had obtained green nod from the Ministry for drilling 16 exploratory wells in the same block in 2008. The Exploration and Production (E&P)-major seeks to drill the new wells expeditiously as the exploratory cycle is ending in March 2014. According to ONGC, the exploratory work would involve site preparation, well foundation, rig building, drilling, and the restoration of the well site. Both water-based as well as synthetic mud will be used in the drilling.

The total water requirement for the project has been estimated at 25 cubic meters per day, per well. The project is likely to generate 8 cubic meters of effluents for each day of drilling. The power requirement for the exploration project will be met through three 1,000 Kilo Volts (kV) Diesel Generator (DG) sets. Around 5.5 kiloliters of diesel will be required each day to run the DG units.

ONGC is India's leading oil and gas Exploration Company, and 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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