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| BPCL: On an overseas drive |
A SIGNIFICANT oil discovery has been made
in an ultra-deep water block off Brazil where state-owned Bharat Petroleum
Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Videocon Industries together hold 40 percent interest. The
discovery has been estimated to hold more than...
1 billion barrels of oil. The operator of the block Petrobras, Brazilian
oil giant, has confirmed the Farfan-1 oil discovery in the ultra-deep waters of
the Segipe-Alagoas basin, off Brazil. “The test evaluated 30 meters of
turbidite sandstones formation and confirmed good reservoir characteristics
featuring excellent productivity of good quality oil (38 degree API)," Petrobas said
in a statement.
A fortune 500 oil refining, exploration and
marketing PSU with Navratna status, BPCL has confirmed excellent productivity
of good quality crude following a drilling test.
Farfan-1 is located 104 km north of
Aracaju, capital of Brazilian state Sergipe. It lies in a water depth of
2476 metres, about 5 km from the Farfan discovery well.
A 51-metre reservoir was discovered at
Farfan-1 well, a year after a 44-metre hydrocarbon column was found.
Indian oil majors have set their eyes on
outbound acquisition drive, making deep inroads in the
global maps in the last couple of years. This trend is likely to gather further
momentum in the near future. Oil giants such as ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are
making rapid strides in foreign soils in their efforts to explore more and more oil
fields to meet nation’s growing energy needs. India's second biggest
state-owned explorer OIL has already formed an overseas subsidiary to look after
its assets abroad. It is being formed on lines of OVL. The board has already
approved the setting up of the foreign arm.
Till recently, OVL has taken the lead in
India's overseas acquisition drive. But now PSUs like NTPC, Coal India, and also
BPCL have started their foreign forays in a significant manner.
OVL has stake in 32 oil and gas projects in
16 countries such as Vietnam, Russia, Sudan, Iran and Brazil.
According to an oil ministry report, India’s
energy demand is likely to be more than double by 2035, from less than 700
million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) currently, to around 1, 500 mtoe.
Till January 2013, BPCL has a total of 17
discoveries out of which eight are in Mozambique, six in Brazil and one each in
India, Indonesia and Australia.
In Mozambique, the operator has so far declared
35 to 65 plus trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas resources. In Brazil,
there have been hydrocarbon discoveries in three basins: Campos, Sergipe Alagos
and Espirito Santo.
BPCL entered into the arena of shale gas in
2010 with acquisition of interest in a block with shale gas potential in the
Perth basin in Australia. A well has been drilled in this block and core
results are positive.
The oil major has become the lead operator
in an onland block in India and is also the joint operator in two onland blocks
in India.
BPCL has so far invested around $1 billion
for its projects, with commitments in excess of $1.5 billion. The total
cumulative outlay till end 2015-16 is to the tune of $2.2 billion.
To manage some of its overseas assets effectively,
BPCL has incorporated subsidiaries and SPVs in Brazil and in the Netherlands.
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