Oil India has reported success in striking oil in yet another of its drilled wells in Arunachal Pradesh’s Kumchai field. The KMC-15 well at the Kumchai field that falls within the 427-km Ningru Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) area in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh has been producing 200 barrels per day (b/d) since mid-June, OIL sources told Northeast Now.
They said that the KMC-15 well was spudded in October last year by the Quippo-owned Rig-3 and drilling was done up to 4219 meters. “We faced usual problems like hard rocks that led to increased rig hire time, but we are finally producing oil from KMC-15 since June 18,” a senior OIL drilling engineer said on condition of anonymity.
This success follows a workover at well KMC-5 in April, after which it began producing 270 b/d. This adds to the output of 176 b/d from KMC-13. In all, the three wells at Kumchai are now producing around 650 b/d. “Our next target is to drill location KUAS (to 4500 meters TD) in the same plinth as KMC-15 at location KUAR,” the drilling engineer said.
Oil India seems to be in a hurry to begin drilling in prospective blocks in Rajasthan secured under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP). Within eight months of signing RSCs with the government, Oil India has already appointed a consultant to prepare Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports for a five exploration well drilling program at two of its OALP-1 blocks in Rajasthan.
In May, Vadodara-based Kadam Environmental Consultants beat Chennai-based ABC Techno Labs to clinch an Oil India contract to prepare EIA reports for the 516-sq km RJ/ONHP/2017/8 (South Baghewala) block and the 3012-sq km RJ/ONHP/2017/9 (Siyasar) block.
At South Baghewala, adjacent to the Indo-Pakistan border, Oil India will drill three wells, each to 1200 meters TD. At the Siyasar block, Oil India is planning two wells to up to 2000 meters TD. Oil India expects to spend Rs 75crores on the five-well program. Kadam is expected to complete its EIA reports within 10 months or by April 2020.
