ONGC: Fresh ideas wanted for KG onland gas
ONGC wants companies with ‘unconventional’ gas evacuation technology to bid in a tender for more than 50,000 cm/d gas from seven KG onland marginal fields in remote areas of Andhra Pradesh.
“These are small and isolated quantities of gas that can’t be evacuated in ‘conventional’ ways,” says ONGC from Rajahmundry. “Laying a pipeline is the ‘conventional’ way but the ‘unconventional’ way is to compress the gas into CNG cascades and take it wherever you want.
” Sentini Ceramica, part of the Hyderabad-based Sentini Group, is doing just that for 6000 cm/d from the Malleswaram field, offered in the first tender for KG onland gas in August last year (2012). “Sentini is compressing the gas to 250-bar and storing it in cylinders for transportation to its end-user point,” adds ONGC.
“This is the future for small gas quantities.” ONGC and Oil India are allowed to sell ‘non-APM’ gas on the open market from fields producing less than 100,000 cm/d, according to oil ministry guidelines published on June 28, 2010; gas-based urea fertiliser plants are top priority.
Nagarjuna Fertilizers, with a 1.5m t/y urea plant at Kakinada, is an obvious candidate. “But Nagarjuna needs 1.4m cm/d,” says ONGC.
“It won’t be interested in our small quantities.” On offer is 54,500 cm/d from North Penugonda and Rangapuram (20,000 cm/d from each for one year); Surayraopeta, Gokarnapuram and Mandapeta 23 (2500 cm/d from each for three years); Kaza (3000 cm/d for three years); and Turuputallu (4000 cm/d for two years).