India’s flagship abroad agency ONGC Videsh Ltd has sought one other three-year extension to probe for oil and gasoline in a Vietnamese block within the contested waters of the South China Sea, officers stated.
If granted, this would be the eighth extension for OVL, the abroad arm of state-owned Oil and Pure Fuel Company (ONGC).
Officers stated the seventh extension to probe for oil and gasoline was until June 15, 2023 and the corporate is in talks with Vietnamese authorities for an additional three-year extension.
OVL, they stated, has submitted a proposal for a three-year extension of the exploration phase-1 to the regulator PVN and the approval is awaited.
The corporate has thus far not discovered any commercially recoverable oil and gasoline reserves within the block within the 17 years it has been exploring there however has continued presence there due to India’s strategic curiosity within the South China Sea.
Vietnam too needs the Indian agency to counter China’s interventions within the contested waters.
OVL had signed a manufacturing sharing contract (PSC) with Vietnam’s nationwide oil agency PetroVietnam for deepwater exploratory Block-128 having an space of seven,058 sq. kilometres in Offshore PhuKhanh Basin, Vietnam in Could 2006.
An funding licence was issued to it on June 16, 2006, thereby giving impact to the PSC.
The agency has accomplished the licence requirement of taking pictures 3D seismic information and reprocessing of 2D seismic information in addition to drilling of the dedicated one effectively.
Officers stated OVL acquired 3D seismic information and reprocessed 2D seismic information to fulfil part of the minimal work programme of the phase-1 of exploration interval. Additionally, petroleum system modelling research have been carried out based mostly on information supplied by PetroVietnam.
OVL first took a two-year extension of the exploration interval until June 2014 after which one other for one yr. A 3rd extension was granted on Could 28, 2015, and a fourth in 2016.
It acquired the fifth extension for 2 years in 2017 and a sixth from June 16, 2019 to June 15, 2021. The seventh extension for two-years was until June 15, 2023.
One other official stated the corporate had a few years in the past drilled a effectively on the block however it couldn’t attain the goal depth and so it now has to drill the effectively yet again.
The corporate has not discovered any hydrocarbon within the block however is continuous to remain invested to keep up India’s strategic curiosity.
The block lies within the a part of the South China Sea over which China claims sovereignty. In 2011, Beijing had warned OVL that its exploration actions off the Vietnam coast have been unlawful and violated China’s sovereignty, however the firm continued exploring for oil and gasoline.
OVL made a foray into Vietnam as early as 1988 when it bagged the exploration licence for Block 06.1. OVL owns a forty five per cent stake in Block 06.1 and its share of condensate and oil equal gasoline manufacturing from the block was 0.693 million tonnes in the course of the 2022-23 fiscal.
The manufacturing sharing contract (PSC) for Block 06.1 ws until Could 18, 2023 however the Vietnam authorities has prolonged it for an additional 16 years.
The 955 sq km Block 06.1 situated in Nam Con Son basin has two producing fields — Lan Tay and Lan Rosneft — and has a 35 per cent stake whereas the remaining 20 per cent is with PetroVietnam.
The agency in 2006 acquired two exploration blocks — Block 127 and Block 128. Whereas Block 127 was relinquished resulting from poor prospects, the opposite block was retained.
The primary extension for Block 128 adopted China placing the world underneath the block for international bidding.
(Solely the headline and film of this report could have been reworked by the Enterprise Customary workers; the remainder of the content material is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
