Oil India starts producing from Baghewala in April
Oil India has set an April deadline to begin production from its Baghewala field in Rajasthan using steam injection technology from state-owned PDVSA of Venezuela.
Under a pilot project, steam at high pressure is being injected into the well for 100 days. Following this the well is kept shut to allow the steam to be soaked in.
Production begins after that, we hear, and will peak to about 1000 b/d. Oil India will first produce bitumen from Baghewala using steam injection.
The second steam injection cycle and subsequent cycles will be shorter. Production of heavy oil will begin after two cycles of producing bitumen and successful experiments by Oil India and PDVSA.
Heavy oil in Baghewala has an API of 12. Baghewala has been lying unexploited for long because Oil India did not have the appropriate technology.
Oil India abandoned earlier plans to produce from Baghewala using proprietary Romanian and Canadian technology.