ONGC to Invite Foreign Partners to Explore New Oilfields

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will invite foreign partners to explore the blocks that the firm has been allotted under Category-II and Category-III of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy.

The intention is to invite foreign participations to explore Category-II and Category-III basins which match size and scale of expectations and portfolio of these large players.

Under the licensing policy, Category-II basins are those with contingent resources that are yet to be converted to recoverable reserves. Category-III basins have prospective resources with no hydrocarbon discovery.

ONGC owns the licence for one Category-II block in the Cambay basin, as well as two blocks each from the Cauvery and Mumbai Offshore basins, among others under Category-III.

The firm has entered Phase-II of discussions with ExxonMobil for exploration and development of deep water basins such as Cauvery.

French oil major Total has withdrawn all personnel from the Area-1 Mozambique LNG project and declared force majeure under the threat of militant attacks due to the worsened security situation in the north of the Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique.

ONGC’s overseas arm ONGC Videsh holds 16 percent participating interest (PI) in the Area-1 concession through its subsidiaries ONGC Videsh Rovuma (OVRL) and Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique (BREML).