International oil and gas major U.K.’s BG Group and BHP Billiton of Australia, on Monday, inked a production-sharing contract (PSC) with the Government to bid for the deep-water block in the Mumbai basin won during the 9th round of bidding under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).
In separate statements issued by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry and the company, they said BG-BHP signed a PSC with the government for deep-water block MB-DWN-2010/1 in the Mumbai basin. BG India and BHP hold 50 per cent interest each in the block.
The block, located 350 km offshore from Mumbai, Block MB-DWN- 2010/1, is a large, deep-water block and covers 7,963 sq km in water depths varying from 2,900 m to 3,200 m. “This block represents BG India’s first deep-water-operated exploration licence on the West Coast of India,’’ BG India President and Managing Director Shaleen Sharma said in a statement.
BG at present holds a deep-water exploration block in KG basin but has been unable to start work due to failure to get clearances. “We have committed to do a 2,000 line km of 2D seismic survey and 2,000 sq km of 3D seismic besides drilling one well in the five year Phase-I exploration,’’ BG India Vice-President (Exploration) Goutam Ghosh said.
Further, in the statement, Mr. Sharma said the signing of the PSC showed that BG continued to stay invested in India as it believed in the long-term growth story of the country. BG had globally decided to exit downstream fuel retailing business and it was as part of this exercise that it was selling its stake in Gujarat Gas Co Ltd (GGCL), he added.
Mr. Sharma said BG India would begin work shortly on the block and plans to undertake preparatory work and seismic surveys in order to capitalise on the weather window available post-monsoon 2012.
Focus areas
He said upstream oil and gas exploration and LNG sourcing and marketing would be BG’s focus in India. In all, the government had offered 34 areas for exploration and production of oil and gas in NELP-IX in 2010; bids for 33 blocks were received at the close of bidding on March 28 last year.
