ONGC, BG, RIL consortium to invest $520 million in Panna-Mukta-Tapti fields

17 April 2007

New Delhi: The consortium of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), British Gas and Reliance Industries (RIL) will invest Rs2,192 crore ($520 million) in Panna-Mukta-Tapti fields in the western offshore of the country to raise the output by 30 per cent.

Officials said the gas production will increase from 13 million metric standard cubic meter per day (mmscmd) to 17 mmscmd by August /September this year.

ONGC holds 40 per cent in this field while BG and Reliance have 30 per cent each. Earlier, the consortium invested $200 million in increasing oil production from the fields to 42,000 barrel per day from 29,000 barrel per day.

The joint venture sells six mmscmd from the field to GAIL at $4.75 per million british thermal unit (MBTU). Another 4.8 mmscmd is sold to customers like GSPC at $4.08 per MBTU while the remaining 1.3 mmscmd is sold at $5.7 per MBTU.

The consortium was marketing 13 mmscmd gas jointly, but the additional volume expected from August/September would be sold by the three companies separately in proportion to their shareholding.