india

Updated: Oct 16, 2019 18:42 IST

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited’s (ONGC) wholly-owned subsidiary and overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd, on Wednesday said it has made an oil discovery in Colombia and found natural gas in Brazil.

“ONGC Videsh has recorded discoveries of oil in its onshore exploration block CPO-5, Colombia in the Llanos basin and major gas in the deep offshore exploration block BM-SEAL-4, Brazil in the Sergipe Alagoas Basin,” the state-run company said in a statement.

The company is the operator in CPO-5 block in Colombia with 70% stake. The balance 30% stake in the block is owned by Petrodorado South America S.A., Sucursal (PDSA), Colombia. Petrobras is the operator of the Brazilian block with 75% stake and ONGC Videsh has 25% interest in the asset.

ONGC Videsh has made two new discoveries in Colombia and Brazil. It has recorded #discoveries of #oil in its onshore exploration block CPO-5, Colombia in the Llanos basin and major #gas in the deep offshore exploration block BM-SEAL-4, Brazil in the Sergipe Alagoas Basin. pic.twitter.com/IwmjTNE37l — ONGC VIDESH Limited (@ongcvideshltd) October 16, 2019

“The consortium plan to continue the operational activities to evaluate the discovery to ascertain its commerciality,” it said.

ONGC Videsh has a significant presence in the oil and gas sector of Brazil and Colombia. It holds stakes in seven exploratory blocks.

In addition, ONGC Videsh is the joint owner of the oil producing company Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd (MECL) along with its partners Sinopec of China. In Brazil, ONGC Videsh holds 27% stake in the offshore BC-10 block.

Giving the technical details of the oil discovery, the company said, “Well Sol-1, in the block CPO-5 encountered the oil bearing sands of 8 metres at a depth of 2,852 metres. Oil discovery in Sol-1 confirms the extent of oil pay further south of the block.” ONGC Videsh had earlier discovered commercial oil in the same pay in wells Mariposa-1 and Indico-1 in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both the wells are under production now.

In the Brazilian block, operator Petrobras completed drilling of the well Moita Bonita-2 in the deep offshore of the Moita Bonita Area (block BM-SEAL-4) at a water depth of 2,629 metres and encountered gas bearing sand of total thickness of 39 metres at the depth of 5,227 metres and oil bearing sand of total thickness of 24 metres at deeper depths. “Drill Stem Test (DST) was performed in the gas carrier interval ... and the result showed good production from the reservoir,” it said.