Oil India predicts 3.2m t/y for 2022-23 fiscal
Oil India firmly believes it can meet its 4m t/y production target by 2025 amid confidence it will register 3.2m t/y production in 2022-23 - the highest in four years.
On April 3-4 (2023), senior and middle-level executives attended a two-day annual Oil India production conference amid swaying palm trees at a four-star holiday resort in the union territory of Daman off the Gujarat coast. Approximately 40 executives, including chairman Ranjit Rath, heard success stories and challenges.
On April 6 (2023), the outcome of the April 3-4 annual production conference in Daman was discussed at a board meeting in Duliajan. "Although the calculations are not finalised, production has touched 3.2m t/y for the fiscal ending March 31 (2023)," reports a senior source.
"We discussed these and many success stories in Daman - the whole of Assam has contributed to this success." Oil production during 2021-22 increased by nearly 1.7%, from 2.96 m t/y in 2020-21 to 3.01 m t/y in 2021-22.
Oil India now wants to raise oil production by 6% in 2023-24 but can only set that target after confirming the production figure for 2022-23. What is clear, however, is that E&P targets have been set significantly higher for 2023-24.
"We have set a target of 65 wells to be drilled this fiscal (ending March 31, 2024)," adds another source. By contrast, Oil India drilled 44 wells in 2022-23.
"It would have hit 45 wells had it not been for the abandonment of well Sadiya-1," says another source. "Of the 44 wells, up to 18 were exploration, a figure likely to increase significantly (in 2023-24)."
Oil India predicts it can achieve its higher drilling target because several OALP blocks will be poised for drilling. "But increased production will result only from deploying new technology at producing wells, not from drilling more exploration wells," clarifies a source.