ONGC strikes oil in 2 new oil wells in Gujarat
07 Feb 2009
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has struck oil in two new oil wells in Patan district of Gujarat. The new finds are estimated to have in place oil reserves of over one million tonnes, the state-run explorer said.
The oil find was comes even as ONGC's Mehsana production unit in the state is witnessing a fall in output.
ONGC started its first exploratory work in Patan, nearly 80 km from Ahmedabad, following leads about existence of oil in pre-drilling studies, an ONGC official said.
The output at ONGC Mehsana, which was around 8,000 to 9,000 tonnes a day when the unit was set up in 1968, came down to 6,000 tonnes a day over the years. The annual output currently stands at around 2.25 million tonnes, down from 3 million tonnes when production started.
Moreover, he said, the oil found in north Gujarat is typically waxy in nature and therefore the recoverability is very low. ONGC had already recovered over 50 per cent of its recoverable oil reserves in the Mehsana fields, he added.
