OVL finds oil in Colombia: Report

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), on January 5 said it has made a second oil discovery in Colombia that has increased prospects of its onland block in the South American nation.
The well Indico-1 in onshore block CPO-5 found an oil-bearing play, the PSU said in a statement.
OVL is the operator of the block with 70 per cent stake while Petrodorado South America SA Sucursal (PDSA) of Colombia holds the remaining...
30 per cent. The well was spudded on November 7, 2018, and the company completed drilling on December 15, 2018.
"The well Indico-1 encountered Lower Sands (LS-3) of Une Formation (Cretaceous) at a depth of 9,833 feet found to be oil bearing, before terminating the drilling at 10,602 feet (MD) in Paleozoic. The well was successfully logged and found to have 284 feet of gross thickness and 241 feet net pay," it said. During tests, the well flowed at a self-flow rate of about 4,000 barrels of oil per day. "Currently, the well is under Short-Term Testing with multi-bean study for further evaluation," it said.
OVL had earlier discovered commercial oil of 40-degree API in LS-3 sands in the well Mariposa-1 in the block in 2017, which is located 6.5 km from Indico-1, and the continuation of same play is confirmed in the recent well.
The PSU now plans to drill more exploratory wells to chase this important Cretaceous Clastic corridor in immediate future. OVL is also embarking on acquiring additional 3D Seismic data to map more drillable prospects in other sectors of the block.
OVL, which has a stake in 41 projects in 20 countries, has a significant presence in Colombian oil and gas sector and holds a stake in 6 exploratory blocks in addition to a producing 50:50 joint venture, Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd (MECL).
Under its portfolio, OVL has reserves of 711 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent natural gas.
Recently, OVL has been in news as ONGC is hesitant to implement the government's demand to list OVL.
The PSU has some reservations about the listing of ONGC Videsh and has conveyed this to the government, Shashi Shanker, chairman and managing director of the company said on last week in New Delhi.
The government in August had asked ONGC to list its subsidiary as part of a drive to sell state-assets to raise funds.
ONGC Videsh has stakes in 41 oil and gas assets in 20 countries and in the last fiscal year produced oil equivalent to 26.2 percent of India's local output.
The company, fully owned by ONGC, produced 11 percent more oil at 9.35 million tonnes in the last fiscal year while its gas output rose by about 10 percent to 4.81 billion cubic metres.
OVL is a Miniratna Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) of the Government of India under the administrative control of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas. The primary business of OVL is to prospect for oil and gas acreages outside India, including exploration, development and production of oil and gas. OVL owns Participating Interests in 32 oil and gas assets in 16 countries and contributes 12 percent and seven percent of oil and natural gas production of India, respectively. In terms of reserves and production, OVL is the second largest petroleum company of India, next only to its parent company, ONGC.