India’s ONGC discovers new onshore blocks in Gujarat

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has reportedly discovered new onshore blocks in Gujarat’s Kutch district.

The company teamed up with archaeologists and experts from Kutch University and Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) to undertake study and research of the newly identified rocks, according to the Times of India.

The firm plans to start exploratory drilling by May 2021.

Kutch University environment science department head M G Thakkar told the publication: “ONGC has completed seismic sounding process. Now, they will start exploratory drilling in which they will make nearly 100 holes on the ground.

“There is a possibility that oil and gas can be found on the land of Kutch. The block identified is in the western part of Kutch, which is a huge area.”

The team will dig the block at various places to extract the core, whereas geologists will undertake geochemical study of the core.

PDEU associate professor Bhawanisingh Desai said that the ONGC’s onshore exploration is in the initial stage. It involves study of geological features to identify potential oil and gas.

The second stage involves resource estimate and exploration’s economic effectiveness, which is planned to be conducted using advanced technologies.

PDEU director Rakesh Kumar Vij said: “Government has allotted ONGC one onshore block in which exploration will start.

“ONGC’s oil exploration from four projects is currently nearly 5 million tonnes. Kutch’s prospect is more than that. If we work both onshore and offshore in Kutch, we will get the same production which we are getting from four projects.”

ONGC recently said that it plans to produce 15 million cubic metres of gas a day (mmscmd) from its block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin in India’s east coast, in 2024.

The move is expected to further India’s ambition to increase the share of cleaner fuel in its energy mix from the current 6% to 15% by 2030.