Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) began oil production from the deepwater Krishna Godavari basin project in Block KG-DWN-98/2 in the Bay of Bengal, off the east coast of India. Production of 45,000 b/d and 10 million cu m/d of gas is expected.
The block, in 300-3,200 m of water, covers about 7,295 sq km of Krishna-Godavari basin and contains slope depositional and deepwater depositional systems of Achaean and Proterozoic rocks ranging in age from lower-Permian to recent.
The western part of the basin is formed by Permo-Triassic, late Jurassic-Cretaceous, and Tertiary rocks. Block discoveries are divided into Clusters 1, 2, and 3. Cluster 2 is producing first through the Armada Sterling-V FPSO.
In 2018, ONGC spudded the first subsea well in the KG-DWN-98/2 development project (OGJ Online, Arl. 9, 2018). First oil was initially planned for November 2021, but subsurface geological issues, weather, changes in well locations and surface facilities, and COVID-19-related supply chain issues delayed the project.
ONGC is operator.
