Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is on its way to commercialize another Basin – the Vindhyan Basin. This would be the ninth producing Basin of India- the eighth by ONGC. This comes close on the heels of the eighth Indian Basin – the Bengal Basin –dedicated to the nation on 20th December 2020.
Exploratory well Hatta#3 was drilled with the objective to establish commercial potential through detailed testing to acquire reservoir-specific data. The Well Hatta#3 is in the Son valley sector of Madhya Pradesh. On testing, the well-produced over 62,044 cubic meters/day gas, thus confirming the production potential of Proterozoic Basin for the first time in India.
Active exploration in the Vindhyan Basin began with the acquisition of seismic data in the late 1980s. The very first well Jabera#1, drilled in the Basin in 1991, produced gas of around 2000 cubic meters/day. Perseverance of ONGC spanned over the next 25 years, with drilling of 26 exploratory wells in the Son and Chambal valley sector of the Vindhya Basin, notwithstanding 14 of them providing sub-commercial gas flows in the Son Valley. Finally, continued efforts have now paid off – the Vindhyan Basin is close to becoming the ninth producing Basin of India. ONGC is fully geared to consolidate this development. With belief in prospectivity, it has already acquired 5 Blocks under OALP rounds on the same Play trend.
ONGC is now working out various monetization options for the gas viz. direct marketing to industries in the vicinity, Cluster-based gas production through cascade systems, CNG bottling at well-head as the gas is of high calorific value and transportation using available facility.