State-run energy major ONGC plans to tie-up with French giant Total Energy for exploration and production of oil and gas in the Andaman Islands, said Sushma Rawat, director of exploration at ONGC Ltd. In an interview, Rawat said that there is hope for a potential hydrocarbon block. The auction will be held in the next round of auction under the Open Acreage Licensing Program for which both the companies can bid as a joint venture.
“For deepwater, talks are on with Total. Andaman, which is coming up, is mostly deep water. The government has an island exploration project, a lot of seismic data is being obtained in the Andamans which will be processed and analyzed. Within a month we will know if Total will be there with us and in what way. We are yet to sign an MoU with Total. The talks are in the final stages,” he said.
While the preliminary survey is being done by the Centre, it said the blocks will be auctioned through Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP-XI) round of auction or there could be a separate round for deepwater exploration and production. “We have prepared the blocks, we need to submit them,” she said.
The Center has been ambitious with the National Island Exploration Project to reduce its import dependence for crude oil in a volatile global market scenario.
Speaking of tie-ups and joint ventures, Rawat said that apart from Total, the Maharatna company is also looking for tie-ups with other major players including those in exploration and production as well as carbon capture.
“We had a global outreach program for international partnerships, which was started 2-3 years ago by the then CMD of ONGC. In that area we’ve moved forward, and have had a lot of technical discussions and four MoUs have been signed, ExxonMobil to Equinor to Chevron and all. So, we’re looking forward to forging alliances with Total and others, from exploration and enhanced oil recovery to carbon capture and renewables. The tie-up is expected to be firm by the end of March, she said. “ExxonMobil (the contract) is fully in (for) the deepwater. They’re looking at data on both the east coast and the west coast. They’ll let us know at the end of March, when their full study is complete, and those Will identify the areas they would like to go for acreage bidding, or it could be a joint venture with ONGC,” he said.
He further said: “We are looking at the joint venture between ONGC and ExxonMobil. Right now the technical teams are sitting together and analyzing the data that we have processed. In ExxonMobil’s case it is a little further along, but they have decided They have given their timeline by the end of March to see if they will come for a partnership for bidding and exploration.”
Rawat said ONGC may announce a partnership with French company IFP within a month for technical domains, software model building and interpretation to reduce uncertainty and ensure risk management.
Speaking on the company’s pilot project for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), for which ONGC has tied up with Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor, the Director (Exploration) said that both the companies are working on a timeline for the project. , will discuss the investment required. And if other players need to join the project.
He also said that talks are on with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for procurement of carbon dioxide from the company and the investment amount required will depend on the cost of procurement of carbon dioxide.
“We want to take the carbon dioxide and pump it underground, store it in an area that has been producing for a very long time now. So, that is Gandhara in the Cambay basin. For that we have tied up with Equinor. They have their project Northern Lights in the North Sea. We will need carbon dioxide from the Indian Oil Corporation. For them it is a waste product which we will pump into the reservoir.”
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