Huge upstream possibilities in India’s sights with partner help

The boss of India’s oldest pioneer oil exploration and production company says partnerships can help identify and deliver billion-dollar opportunities. Dr. Ranjit Rath, Chairman and MD, Oil India Limited, also made a prediction for The Addition Stage audience at India Energy Week, that there would be a significant commercial discovery for India by 2030.

Rath delivered a message of positivity and potential as he addressed a session called “India’s upstream growth potential: the roles of policy, collaboration and technology in expediting frontier exploration.”

Oil India Limited, described as the country’s oldest and most strategically-placed upstream company, was said to have played a foundational role in securing domestic oil and gas supply. Its evolution has seen it develop an international footprint, and expand into low-carbon energy, focusing on technology, sustainability and ensuring long-term energy security.
 
In his introduction, he said this evolution closely mirrored the leadership journey of Rath, who went on to discuss the company’s development and current strategies.

“The first discovery of hydrocarbon belongs to Oil India Limited, it is 1889 to be precise,” he said. “The story goes that we discovered then at 50 metre depth, and today we are drilling 5,500-6,000 metre depth.”

The Oil India Limited chief outlined how the company has achieved a 10% decline arrest and 2-3% growth in production over the last three to four years. 

“We have mastered the art of managing mature reservoirs to kind of address the decline, which is intrinsic to any other mature reservoirs that you are aware of so we have arrested not only the 10% decline of our reservoir production, we have also scripted it on top of it 2-3% growth.”

Oil India has enhanced exploration accuracy to about 100,000 square kilometres, out of which 60%-55% is in offshore waters, and 40,000 square kilometres in deep and ultra-deep waters.

“While we focus on exploration of crude oil and natural gas, as part of our efforts we have also diversified into critical minerals, where we foresee there is a commonality of application of technology in terms of our exploration,” Rath continued.
In his broad-ranging Energy Talk, Rath covered policy, reforms, legislative frameworks, technology and data, as well as the huge promise of the Andaman Basin.

The Chairman, who has deep roots in geosciences and a career shaped by India’s natural resource institutions, also emphasised the importance of near-field exploration and collaboration with international oil companies, such as with TotalEnergies.

“We strongly believe that it is the responsibility of national oil companies like Oil India and ONGC, to first establish the presence or the possibility of a petroleum basin or such beautiful spots, as they say in the seismic imaging.

“Be it at 4,000 metres it really doesn’t matter because India is an energy-hungry country… that would actually encourage international oil companies or national oil companies to collaborate, and that’' the approach we are adopting.”

This can also help with de-risking, but also enables companies such as Oil India to learn from entities operating in other basins.

“When we look at collaboration, we don’t restrict ourselves,” Rath explained. “We’re open to ideas…one can just be a joint bidding opportunity, one a technology service agreement where there is a first right of refusal opportunity.

 “There could be a situation where the first well could be a joint investment decision with a percentage sharing. Because what we strongly feel, unlike other sectors, is that competition brings value or improvement in the processes and systems; upstream is a process where collaboration and cooperation is a need.”

As for the near future for India and Oil India, in particular, Rath had this to say: “If we could gaze into the crystal ball to 2030, we should have a big commercial discovery. That’s it. The story will unfold after that. 

“So, that kind of one commercial, big discovery for India…and then everything else will fall into place.”