Huge ONGC drilling plan at Ahmedabad asset
ONGC is planning a massive 406 development well campaign at its Ahmedabad asset in Gujarat by the end of this year (2015) in line with its Rs41,678cr ($6.5bn) plan to bring newer fields onto production and redevelop ageing fields.
PETROWATCH learns ONGC will drill 320 wells at its Gamij field, of which 170 will be drilled in Gamij Ext-II followed by 104 in Gamij Ext-I, 43 in Gamij and three in Varsoda Halisa. Another 39 will be drilled in the Ahmedabad field plus 17 in Limbodra, 11 in Nandej, nine in Wasna, eight in Nawagam, and two in Mahelaj.
Why the focus on Gamij? “Early last year we updated reservoir data for Gamij,” explains an ONGC source. “Gamij has excellent potential and needs to start producing soon.
” Originally ONGC had environment ministry approval to drill 52 wells at Gamij but because of the revised reservoir data sought permission to drill 268 more. “We made a presentation to the environment ministry on December 1, 2014 and received approval on May 8, 2015,” adds ONGC.
Of the 406 wells planned at the Ahmedabad asset, 390 will be vertical and 16 horizontal. In total the project will cost Rs1752cr ($274m): drilling each vertical well costs Rs4cr ($626,000) and each horizontal well costs Rs12cr ($1.87m).
Each well will take 30-35 days to drill to 1200-2000 metres.