ONGC plans $186m drilling spend at Ankleshwar
ONGC is planning to spend more than Rs1100cr ($186m) on drilling 177 development wells at its Ankleshwar asset in south Gujarat and Cambay sub-asset in central Gujarat.
Only final environmental clearance is holding up the five-year drilling campaign - to hike production by 10,000 b/d - that ONGC wants to begin by the end of this year (2014). All the wells will be drilled across a 2000-sq km area in Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara and Anand districts.
Mandatory public hearings required for environmental clearance will be held at Surat on June 27, Vadodara on July 2 and Bharuch on July 4. A date for the Anand hearing has yet to be fixed.
ONGC will drill 113 wells at the Gandhar, Jambusar, Nada, Dabka, Degam and Karjan fields north of the Narmada River in the Ankleshwar asset to between 1500 and 4000 metres depth. Another 19 will be drilled at the Ankleshwar field south of the Narmada River to between 250 and 1650 metres depth.
The remaining 45 wells will be drilled in the Cambay sub-asset at the Padra, Kathana, Akholjuni, Siswa, Anklav and Chaklasi fields to between 700 and 2000 metres depth. “Drilling operations will go on round-the-clock,” confirms an ONGC source.
“It will take 90 days to complete a well. We'll use our own rigs but are also preparing tenders to hire rigs.
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