ONGC announces commencement of First Oil

Kakinada: ED-Asset Manager, ONGC Kakinada Ratnesh Kumar stated that the 98/2 project is likely to increase ONGC’s total oil and gas production by 11 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. Combating various technologies and Covid-related challenges, ONGC successfully executed Phase-1 of the project in March 2020, achieving the commencement of gas production from this block in a record time of 10 months.

With the commencement of this First Oil on 7 January 2024, ONGC is nearing completion of Phase 2, culminating in the commencement of oil production from the ‘M’ field of KG-DWN-98/2. The development of this field faced unique technical challenges due to the waxy nature of the crude.

To overcome those, ONGC employed innovative Pipe in Pipe technology, a first-of-its-kind initiative in India. While some subsea hardware involved in this development has been sourced internationally to meet specific requirements, the majority of fabrication works were carried out at the Modular Fabrication Facility at Kattupalli which highlights ONGC’s commitment to promoting ‘Make in India.’

The flagship project is on track with the final phase of the project with the balance of oil & gas fields of the block scheduled to be put into production by mid-2024. Peak production of the field is expected to be 45,000 barrels of oil per day and over 10 Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters per Day of gas, he said.