Back to the Krishna Godavari after Goa
When drilling is completed in the Kerala Konkan basin, ONGC will re-direct the Sagar Vijay back to the Krishna Godavari basin in eastern India.
Sagar Vijay was forced to leave Krishna Godavari in September this year because of monsoon weather conditions in October, November and December, the results of which are only too apparent in nearby Orissa. This report has it on good authority that by February or March 2000 Sagar Vijay will return to the Krishna Godavari to continue its exploration programme.
In late July this year, ONGC re-discovered oil at G-1-9, a proven structure in water depths of 270 metres. According to a source at ONGC, "the well flowed four objects, each producing about 5-600,000 cubic metres of gas each".
Plus, the region also produced 3,500 barrels of oil. "Forty metres of hydrocarbon bearing sand" was also mentioned in the conversation.
For ONGC, desperate for good news, the strike came as an unexpected surprise. But the onset of the monsoon meant Sagar Vijay had to be diverted from the cyclone-prone east coast to keep it busy.
It was thus sent to the Kerala Konkan. After the KG strike, ONGC decided to reprocess all the data, before undertaking any further drilling or testing there.
This is currently being done at ONGC research HQ in Dehra Dun. This report learns that a final report on the commercial and technical viability of the G-1-9 strike will be presented to the ONGC board in late December ahead of the Sagar Vijays return to the Krishna Godavari.
Long term, the Sagar Vijay is also expected to travel to the Andamans to undertake deepwater drilling for the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. ONGC tells this report it awaits the list of drilling locations from the DGH.
Meanwhile, there is more good news onshore Krishna Godavari. A well in Kesanapalli West region, called KWAG, is being logged and is now showing "good amounts of oil as well as gas".