Kakinada: The Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will increase its oil production to 800 tonnes per day from existing 625 to 630 tonnes. This will be done by adding another five rigs to the existing 10 rigs.
As per seismic surveys, rich oil and gas resources are available under KG-Basin, Maheshwaram and Nagayalanka in Krishna district and Mandapeta in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar district.
There are nearly 250 wells in the basin of which 175–180 are under production.
ONGC Rajamahendravaram asset manager Amit Narayan said exploration and discovery of new oil and gas wells and digging new wells is a continuous process.
He disclosed that ONGC has paid over ?2,000 crore to Andhra Pradesh government in the form of various taxes. There are more than 1,800 employees working at the Rajahmundry Asset of ONGC, apart from 1,300 contract employees.
The asset manager pointed out that through Sahyog Trust, ONGC is providing financial assistance to contractual employees for higher education, medical needs and marriages. ?50 crore has been spent on community development activities through various district administrations.
Amit Narayan said they are conducting periodic hydrotests and proactively replacing old pipelines to prevent leakages. A pilot project of laying RTP (Reinforced Thermoplastic) lines has been successfully completed to protect pipelines from corrosion and ensure their longevity. In the last one year, ONGC has replaced 53 kilometres of pipeline in the region.
Replying to a query on gas leakages, the asset manager said there is a misconception regarding recent borewell fire incidents in Konaseema district. These incidents are not related to ONGC operations but due to shallow gas from bore wells drilled by people, However, ONGC has taken immediate steps to control these borewell fires by mobilising all its resources.
Well Services head Shantanu Das said that there are more than 50 wells that are “sick.” Some of them are revived from time to time.
