GNRL to tender new Kanawara gas production
At least 30,000 cm/d of 'associated' gas will soon be offered by Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Natural Resources (GNRL) at its pre-NELP Kanawara field onland Gujarat.
A well-placed industry source tells this report the company is expected to issue a tender this month (May) for the gas available from three new Kanawara wells drilled and completed by GNRL last month (April) for Rs40cr ($5.7m) using a 2000-hp rig with integrated services, including drilling fluids and cementing, from Indore-based Shiv Ganga Drillers. "This will be associated gas from three new mainly oil wells: K-11, K-14 and K-15, each drilled to a depth of 1800 metres targeting the Eocene Pay-4 or EP-4 formation," said our source.
Schlumberger provided the services to frack these three new wells and the now producing K-10 well, at around 1710 metres below ground. GNRL completed testing on April 24 (2023).
We are told the gas is of "excellent" quality: 90% methane with a calorific value of 8440 kcal/kg and no sulphur content. Kanawara produces 12,000 cm/d of gas from three old wells: K-5, K-10 and K-9.
All gas from these three wells is sold to four local factories that manufacture sodium silicate and ceramics. Given a choice, GNRL's customers would like to buy all the additional gas expected from the just-drilled wells, but government rules force it to issue a tender for this gas.
Kanawara's gas customers pay GNRL the government-set maximum gas price of $7.92/mmbtu. In addition to gas, GNRL is expected to produce 400 b/d of oil by the end of April 2023 from the four newly drilled wells.
As of end-April, these four wells were connected to an early production system. Crude oil production from these four new wells supplements the existing 20 b/d oil produced from wells K-9, K-8, K-7, K-6 and K-2.
Sources add Kanawara oil is light, with an API number of 41, is sweet (free of sulphur) and has been benchmarked to Nigeria's Bonny Light grade by the Indian Institute of Petroleum.