OIL currently aims to produce 4 million metric tons of crude oil per year. | File image
State-owned exploration and production company Oil India Limited (OIL) plans to drill over 75 wells in the current financial year (FY25) as part of its new drilling programme, Ranjit Rath, chairman and managing director of OIL, said on Saturday.
The company has drilled 38, 45 and 61 wells respectively in the past three years, Rath said at a news conference after the annual meeting.
“From 45 to 61 wells, that represents an annual growth of 35 percent. Moreover, this represents not only the number of wells, but also deeper and more complex wells,” Rath said.
“Over the last two years, we have grown 5-6 percent in terms of crude oil and natural gas production. This is on top of a natural decline (in existing production) of 12 percent. So net growth is 6 percent, gross growth is 18 percent,” Rath said.
OIL currently aims to produce 4 million tonnes of crude oil per year.
“The Assam plateau consists of huge piles of sand reservoirs. The south bank of the Brahmaputra River offers us ample scope for exploration and production,” Rath said.
In the region, OIL is the only player to have attempted a near-surface exploration program within the petroleum mining lease. It uses multilateral wells, radial drilling and extended reach drilling techniques, which require powerful drilling rigs.
“We continue to maintain the reserve-to-replacement ratio at approximately one,” Rath said.
He added that the company is producing oil and gas from deeper wells, at average depths of 3,000-4,500 meters, much lower than the previous depth of 2,000-3,500 meters. As a result, the company has prioritized gaining access to drilling platforms.
“In a first, we evaluated a bid of seven rigs in just 48 hours to get a turnaround. If we don’t have a rig count, we can’t have deep exploration and development,” he stressed.
The company needs more drilling rigs for wells like the one it plans to dig to 6,500 meters deep, the deepest in the northeast of the country.
The company is exploring the possibility of permanent carbon sequestration in its oil fields in Rajasthan.
NRL Expansion
The ongoing unrest in Bangladesh has also not caused any delay in the expansion of the Numaligarh refinery, Rath said.
The company aims to commission the expanded Numaligarh refinery by December 2025. Building a refinery at Numaligarh will require shipping a lot of oversized cargo. The cargo is currently shipped from Haldia Port in West Bengal, via the river flow along the International Water Treaty boundary to the Brahmaputra River and then to a tributary called Dhansiri before reaching the refinery.
The 3 metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) refinery in Upper Assam is undergoing a major capacity expansion to 9 MMTPA by installing a 6 MMTPA capacity refinery and associated crude oil terminals and pipeline to process Arab Light (AL) and Arab Heavy (AH) crude oil. The project also includes a 1,635 km long crude oil trunk line from Paradip port in Odisha to Numaligarh in Upper Assam, to transport 5.5 million tonnes of crude oil.
Both projects are integrated and will be completed as part of a phased mechanical completion and phased pre-commissioning process, Rath said. Full production will occur in FY27 (2026-27).
On the other hand, while the 130-km-long Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) pipeline still carries high-speed diesel from Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in Assam to Bangladesh, only about 4,000 tonnes of crude oil is currently moving through the 1-million-tonne capacity pipeline, Rath said.
First publication: Sep 14, 2024 | 5:51 PM IST