Cairn and ONGC back on talking terms
ONGC is actively considering a proposal by partner Cairn India to have two separate Operating Committees (OCs) at onland Rajasthan block RJ-ON-90/1: one for production, the other for exploration.
Cairn chief P. Elango met ONGC director exploration NK Verma on May 8 to suggest the idea.
"We haven’t taken a final call but are looking into it," says an ONGC official. "We don't think the PSC allows for two OCs.
An alternative is to have one member from the production department and another from the exploration department on the OC; or we could have two sub-committees reporting to the OC." At present, each partner has one member on the OC.
ONGC director exploration Verma has asked the EXCOM division to see if two OCs are allowed under the PSC. Cairn plans to invest Rs5000cr ($856m) to drill more than 450 wells over the next 3 years in Rajasthan, where it is producing 175,000 b/d of oil from five fields.
