BG plans foam injection for dying Tapti wells
Joint operators BG, Reliance and ONGC are doing all they can to delay the inevitable death of the ageing Tapti field offshore Mumbai.
Tapti was actually expected to stop producing by July but is holding on to dear life with production of 7m cf/d (198,000 cm/d) from four wells, down from around 20m cf/d (566,000 cm/d) a couple of months ago. BG is now planning to inject foam into several of the wells sometime in October, after the monsoon rains end, to extract as much gas and condensate as possible.
“They (the Panna, Mukta and Tapti consortium) will choose high potential wells for foam injection to push up any gas trapped within,” says a source. “It will be done in-house and is estimated to cost around $200,000.
” Meanwhile, the partners are discussing handing over the decommissioned Tapti platforms and facilities to ONGC, as directed by the oil ministry, once production ceases. Tapti will be the first offshore field to be decommissioned in India.