India’s flagship abroad agency ONGC Videsh Ltd has obtained the seventh extension to probe for oil and fuel in a Vietnamese block within the contested waters of the South China Sea, officers mentioned.
OVL, the abroad arm of state-owned Oil and Pure Fuel Company (ONGC), has secured extension of the exploration section upto June 15, 2023, they mentioned.
The corporate has not discovered any commercially recoverable oil and fuel reserves within the block within the 16 years it has been exploring there however has continued presence there due to India’s strategic curiosity within the South China Sea.
Vietnam too needs the Indian agency to counter China’s interventions within the contested waters.
OVL had signed a manufacturing sharing contract (PSC) with Vietnam’s nationwide oil agency PetroVietnam for deepwater exploratory Block- 128 having an space of seven,058 sq. kilometres in Offshore PhuKhanh Basin, Vietnam in Might 2006. An funding licence was issued to it on June 16, 2006, thereby giving impact to the PSC.
The agency has accomplished the licence requirement of taking pictures 3D seismic information and reprocessing of 2D seismic information in addition to drilling of the dedicated one effectively.
Officers mentioned PetroVietnam has agreed to share among the technical information pertaining to the close by space of the block for petroleum system modelling and different associated research for higher geological understanding.
The agency has acquired the information and is now finishing up petroleum system modelling to mitigate the exploration danger and evaluation the prospectivity of the block.
OVL first took a two-year extension of the exploration interval until June 2014 after which one other for one 12 months. A 3rd extension was granted on Might 28, 2015, and a fourth in 2016. It obtained the fifth extension for 2 years in 2017 and a sixth from June 16, 2019 to June 15, 2021.
One other official mentioned the corporate had a few years in the past drilled a effectively on the block but it surely couldn’t attain the goal depth and so it now has to drill the effectively another time.
“If we do not drill, we’re liable to pay penalties,” he added.
The corporate has not discovered any hydrocarbon within the block however is continuous to remain invested to keep up India’s strategic curiosity.
The block lies within the a part of the South China Sea over which China claims sovereignty. In 2011, Beijing had warned OVL that its exploration actions off the Vietnam coast had been unlawful and violated China’s sovereignty, however the firm continued exploring for oil and fuel.
OVL made a foray into Vietnam as early as 1988 when it bagged the exploration licence for Block 6.1.
OVL owns a forty five per cent stake in Block 6.01 and its share of condensate and oil equal fuel manufacturing from the block was 0.919 million tonnes throughout 2021-22 fiscal.
The 955 sq km Block 06.1 situated in Nam Con Son basin has two producing fields — Lan Tay and Lan Rosneft — and has a 35 per cent stake whereas the remaining 20 per cent is with PetroVietnam.
The agency in 2006 obtained two exploration blocks — Block 127 and Block 128. Whereas Block 127 was relinquished on account of poor prospects, the opposite block was retained.
The primary extension for Block 128 adopted China placing the realm below the block for international bidding.
This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.
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