India has arranged a $1.1 billion joint development plan for three offshore fields with combined proved and unproved reserves of more than 2 tcf of gas equivalent.
Work is to take place under production sharing and operating agreements signed late last month with the
Enron Oil & Gas India Ltd. unit of Enron Oil & Gas Co. (EOG) and Reliance Industries Ltd., India's largest private corporation.
The pacts named Enron India operator and development manager of Tapti, Panna, and Mukta fields, all off Bombay in the Gulf of Cambay. Enron India and Reliance each are to hold a 30% interest in the project and India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) the remaining 40%. Panna and Mukta are producing oil fields, and Tapti is a large undeveloped gas field.
The joint development's estimated cost would make it India's largest private investment project.
Platform construction and drilling plans for the three fields are to be arranged within the next few months.
Exploration efforts are to include 3D and shallow seismic work in Tapti during 1995, with gas flow to start from the field in 1996. Permanent oil production facilities with enough capacity to process Panna and Mukta flow also are to be installed in 1996 .
Forrest E. Hoglund, Enron Oil & Gas chairman, president, and chief executive officer, said his company is working with ONGC to quickly and efficiently assume operation of Panna and Mukta fields, which at yearend were producing a combined 13,000 b/d of o il. By comparison, Enron expects crude production to peak at 35,000 b/d after development.
Joint project gas volumes eventually are expected to exceed 280 MMcfd, enough to provide the fuel needed by industrial projects expected in India's economic growth.
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