ONGC seeks partners to rescue Deen Daval gas field in KG basin

The field has produced negligible quantities of gas since ONGC in January 2017 acquired GSPC’s 80% interest in KG-OSN-2001/3 block

• AFTER 7 YEARS & $1.2 BILLION INVESTMENT

After spending close to USD 1.2 billion and seven years of little success, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is seeking partners to rescue the Deen Dayal gas field in the KG basin in Bay of Bengal.

ONGC on June 12 sought expression of interest from "global oil and gas companies with requisite technical expertise and financial strength to join as partner (with participative interest) for firming up a viable strategy" for the field, according to the tender document.

The field has produced negligible quantities of gas since ONGC in January 2017 acquired Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation's (GSPC) 80 per cent interest in the KG-OSN-2001/3 block off the east coast of India.

The block contains the Deen Dayal West (DDW) gas/condensate field which was discovered by GSPC almost two decades back. The Gujarat government company had showcased the field as a promising prospect when it sold its stake to ONGC in order to cut its debt.

The field, which was initially said to hold up to 20 trillion cubic feet of in place gas reserves - by far the biggest in any deepsea field in the country - but later trimmed to a tenth, has proved to be tougher than anticipated.