ONGC out to tame ‘tough’ reservoirs

M. Ramesh  Chennai | Updated on August 05, 2013  Published on August 05, 2013

Finding 350 million tonnes of oil and gas means a lot for any oil company, even if
only a seventh of it can be taken out. Officials at ONGC are thus understandably
upbeat about their newfound ability to produce oil and gas from tough reservoirs
they knew held these resources.

When it comes to hydrocarbons, the deeper you go, the tougher it gets. There are
some reservoirs — oil or gas bearing zones of rock and sand — that are at
unmanageably high pressures (HP), or high temperatures (HT), or both. These are
‘HPHT’ reservoirs and petroleum engineers have been eyeing these reservoirs the
way a cat eyes fish in a glass tank.

And then there are ‘tight’ reservoirs. These hold a lot of hydrocarbons but are not
very ‘permeable’ — they do not allow the hydrocarbons to flow. Usually, you sink
a well (which is really a tube) into the reservoir and create a low pressure. Since
the oil or gas is at high pressure it flows towards the low-pressure tube and then
gushes out. But if the zone is not permeable it cannot flow. No flow means no oil,
and no gas.

To tame these reservoirs, oilmen crack open the recalcitrant rocks using a
technique called ‘fracking’, a term usually heard in the context of shale. They send
down a mixture of a special jelly and tiny, mustard-like grits called proppents at
very high pressures. The high-pressure jelly creates cracks in the rocks and the
proppents lodge themselves in the cracks and prevent them from closing. After
some time the jelly turns watery and is drained out. The reservoir is thus tapped.

ONGC had identified several HPHT and ‘tight’ reservoirs in India, but did not have
the technology to produce hydrocarbons from them. Among other challenges, a
high temperature reservoir is at least 350 F hot, nearly twice as hot as boiling
water, making it difficult to introduce electronic logging equipment in it. But now,
equipment companies such as Schlumberger have developed technologies and
contrivances to dip into such tough reservoirs.
Centre of delivery

In November 2012, ONGC created a ‘Centre of Delivery’ for HPHT and ‘tight’
reservoirs. The Centre is headquartered in Chennai, because the eight fields
identified are in the South — five in the Krishna-Godavari basin and three in the
Cauvery basin. Incidentally, ONGC has created similar centres for shale oil and gas
(Vadodara) and coal-bed methane (Dehradun).

P. Raja, General Manager, ONGC and the Head of the CoD for HPHT and tight
reservoirs, believes seven of these oilfields in the South hold 350 million tonnes of
oil or oil-equivalent gas, but mostly gas. He believes that ultimately only 50
million tonnes can be produced with the technology now available.

The Centre aims to produce about 5 million tonnes from these reservoirs, which is
akin to increasing the production of Bombay High by 25 per cent.

In the Cauvery basin, the first to go might be the one near Bhuvanagiri, which is
both high pressure and ‘tight’. The oil-bearing zone is 400 metres thick, and
occurs at a depth of 3.3 km. Another at Periyakudi, near Tiruvannamalai, was
discovered two years ago. This one, nearly 5 km down, features all the three
headaches — HP, HT and tight. But the oil-bearing zone is over half-a-kilometre
thick. The third is a tight reservoir at Pallivaramangalam. The first two will go on
stream in a year.

In the KG basin, three are on land and one in the shallow waters off Yanam.

All seven belong to ONGC. In addition, a joint venture between ONGC and Cairn
discovered another tough reservoir located near Nagayalanga in Andhra Pradesh.

ramesh.m@thehindu.co.in

ONGC finds oil, gas reserves in MP, WB; to open two new basins in India

The firm has found gas deposits in a block in Vindhyan basin in Madhya Pradesh
that is now being tested, he said adding that the find is at 3,000-plus meters.

By PTI |New Delhi |Published: September 6, 2018 2:36:52 pm

ONGC has drilled four wells after the discovery and will now hydro-frack it by the
end of the year to test commerciality of the finds. (AP Photo/Representational)

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has made oil and gas discoveries in
Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal that may potentially open up two new
sedimentary basins in the country, the firm’s director for exploration has said.

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ONGC had previously opened six out of India’s seven producing basins for
commercial production. It is in the process of adding the eighth by putting Kutch
offshore on the oil and gas map of India.

“The seventh basin was opened way back in 1985. We are looking at adding three
more basins in next five years time,” ONGC Director (Exploration) Ajay Kumar
Dwivedi said.

The firm has found gas deposits in a block in Vindhyan basin in Madhya Pradesh
that is now being tested, he said adding that the find is at 3,000-plus meters.

ONGC has drilled four wells after the discovery and will now hydro-frack it by the
end of the year to test commerciality of the finds.

Similarly, an oil and gas discovery has been made in a well in Ashok Nagar of 24
Parganas district in West Bengal, he said adding that one lakh cubic meters per
day of gas flowed from one object that was tested.

Now, the firm would go for appraisal of the find, only after which commercially
exploitable reserves could be established.

Dwivedi said the company is on the way to putting the Kutch offshore discovery to
production. This would make Kutch India’s eighth sedimentary basin. Cauvery was
the last Category-I producing basin which was discovered in 1985.

ONGC had made a significant natural gas discovery in the Gulf of Kutch off the
west coast a few months back, which it plans to bring to production in 2-3 years,
he said.
India has 26 sedimentary basins, of which only seven have commercial production
of oil and gas. Except for the Assam shelf, ONGC opened up for commercial
production all the other six basins, including Cambay, Mumbai Offshore,
Rajasthan, Krishna Godavari, Cauvery, and Assam-Arakan Fold Belt.

The discovery in Kutch offshore may hold about one trillion cubic feet of gas
reserves.

The spread of Kutch offshore basin covers an area of 28,000 square kilometers in
water depth of up to 200 meters and will become eighth producing basin of the
country.

He, however, said in order to monetise the discoveries in the three new basins, “a
favourable fiscal regime and concessions” are needed.

This, because the current gas price of USD 3.06 per million British thermal unit, is
“challenging”, he said adding the discoveries in a tight reservoir, where the cost of
production is higher.

Cambay, Mumbai Offshore, Rajasthan, Krishna Godavari, Cauvery, Assam Shelf

and Assam-Arakan Fold Belt are Category-I basins with established commercial
production. Category-II basins Kutch, Mahanadi-NEC (North East Coast),
Andaman-Nicobar, Kerala-Konkan-Lakshadweep where known accumulation of
hydrocarbons are there but no commercial production has been achieved so far.

Himalayan Foreland Basin, Ganga Basin, Vindhyan basin, Saurashtra Basin, Kerela
Konkan Basin, Bengal Basin are Category-III basins having hydrocarbon shows that
are considered geologically prospective.

ONGC introduces HF technology in Tripura

The oil giant has drilled 190 wells in the state so far, out of which gas was found in
94 wells- which is an encouraging trend.GUWAHATI: Oil & Natural Gas Corp in
Tripura has undertaken hydro-fracturing in Khubal to assess the actual reserves of
the field and in Baramura to enhance production from tight sands. 
According to ONGCNSE 0.16 %, the job involved intricate coordination to get
domain experts, machine and chemicals from various regions of the country apart
from understanding the reservoir characteristics and geology of the region.
Hydro-fracturing units, high-capacity storage tanks, Proppant (special sand
particles) and chemicals for the work were mobilised from six different assets of
ONGC: Ahmedabad, Karaikal, Rajamundry, Bokaro and Assam. 
ONGC said it made discovery of commercial gas in the Khubal area in February
2009. It completed drilling of seven exploratory-cum-appraisal wells out of which
2 are gases-bearing, the state-run explorer said. 

“Hydro-fracturing in this area is critical for reservoir assessment and to establish

production potential of Khubal Area. To arrest the declining production of the
ageing Baramura field and to enhance productivity from tight reservoir sands of
this area, it was decided to undertake hydro-fracturing (there as well),” ONGC
stated. Asset Manager VP Mahawar said the results of the post-activation jobs in
these wells would provide a lead in assessing the reservoirs and way forward for
the effective stimulation of these structures.