ONGC discovers new oil, gas near Mumbai

New Delhi

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has discovered fresh oil and gas reserves in the Mumbai Offshore basin. These findings are expected to boost production in the near future. The discoveries, named ‘Suryamani’ and ‘Vajramani’, were made under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).

The Suryamani discovery came from an exploratory well, MBS202HAA-1, located in Block MB-OSHP-2020/2. In the January-March quarter, this well produced 2,235 barrels of oil and 45,181 cubic metres of gas daily. Later, a second zone in the same well produced 413 barrels of oil and 15,132 cubic metres of gas per day. This marks the first success in the Mukta Formation of this block.

The Vajramani discovery occurred in Block MB-OSHP-2018/1. The well, MBS181HNA-1, produced 2,122 barrels of oil and 83,120 cubic metres of gas daily. ONGC described this area as an independent fault-bound structure.

ONGC also made a new discovery in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) Basin. The onshore Yandapalli-1 well, drilled in the Malleswaram area, found oil and gas at a depth of 3,958 metres. This was also marked as a new discovery.

These new finds come as India struggles with increasing oil and gas imports due to ONGC’s ageing fields. At present, India imports about 85 percent of its oil needs. These discoveries offer fresh hope for improving the country’s energy security and reducing reliance on foreign oil. ONGC is expected to continue its exploration efforts actively in coming months.