INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
OIL currently has a target to produce 4 million metric tonnes of crude oil per year
| File photo3 min read Last Updated : Sep 14 2024 | 5:52 PM IST
State-owned exploration and production company Oil India Limited (OIL) is
targeting the drilling of more than 75 wells during the ongoing financial year (FY25), as part of its new drilling program, OIL Chairman and
Managing Director (CMD) Ranjit Rath said on Saturday.
The company had drilled 38, 45, and 61 wells in the last-three years, respectively,
growing at 5-6 per cent in terms of crude oil and natural gas production
This is on top of a natural decline (in existing production) of 12 per cent
So, the net growth is 6 per cent, gross growth is 18 per cent," Rath said.
OIL currently has a target to produce 4 million metric tonnes of
The south bank of the Brahmaputra River provides us enough opportunity to explore, and produce," Rath said.
In the region, OIL is the only
player which has attempted through a near-surface exploration program within the petroleum mining lease
It is using multilateral wells, radial drilling and extended reach drilling techniques, for which high powered drilling rigs are
gas from deeper wells, at average depths of 3000-4500 metres, much below the 2000-3500 metres depth earlier
If we don't have rig count, we can't have deep exploration and development," he stressed.
The company needs more rigs for wells such as one
where it plans to dig down to 6,500 metre, the deepest in the north eastern part of the country.
The company is studying the possibility of
permanent carbon sequestration in its oil fields in Rajasthan.NRL expansion
The ongoing unrest in Bangladesh has also not slowed the
Numaligarh Refinery by December, 2025
To construct a refinery in Numaligarh, a lot of overdimensioned cargo needs to be shipped
Cargo is currently being shipped from the Haldia port in West Bengal, following the riverine flow along the international water treaty-based
boundary to the Brahmaputra River, and then into a tributary river called Dhansiri before it reaches the refinery site.
The 3 metric tonnes
per annum (MMTPA) refinery in Upper Assam is undergoing a major capacity augmentation to 9 MMTPA by installing a 6 MMTPA capacity refinery
and associated crude oil terminals and pipeline considering processing of Arab Light(AL) and Arab Heavy (AH) crude oil
The project also includes a 1,635 km crude oil trunk line from the Paradip port in Odisha to Numaligarh in Upper Assam, to transport 5.5
million tonnes of crude.
Both the projects are integrated and will be completed as part of a staged mechanical completion and staged
pre-commissioning process, Rath said
Full scale production will take place in FY27 (2026-27).
On the other hand, while the 130-km-long Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL)
pipeline continues to carry high speed diesel from Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in Assam to Bangladesh, only 4,000-odd tonnes of crude
