MUMBAI, June 22: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has roped in PGS (formerly Petroleum Gas Services) of Norway to conduct a 3D seismic survey programme at Bombay High. The contract, valued at $50 million (Rs 180 crore), was formally signed on Friday by top officials of ONGC and PGS.

The entire exercise, which will last 15 months, will kick off in October this year after the monsoon. The work will be done on the existing field in Bombay High and will involve the laying of cables right at the bottom. This is only the second time that this technique is being employed in India. It was first carried out on the Tapti oilfield where the Enron-Reliance combine has teamed up with ONGC for exploration and production.

Sources say that the 3D exercise for Bombay High will be difficult as there are so many platforms here. The work will involve seismic acquisition, for which PGS will set up a processing centre within ONGC's office premises in Panvel, Navi Mumbai (New Bombay). Workstations are also being brought by PGS to interpret data.

This is a "complete turnkey project" where the primary objective is to enhance crude output in Bombay High and suggest ways to arrest the decline. The exercise will also give vital information to ONGC on how the reservoir is behaving and details on the oil and water content. By the end of the 15 months, the corporation will have a development plan in place for the field.

Output at Bombay High for the year ended March 31, 1997, was estimated at 18 million tonnes compared to 19.2 million tonnes in the previous year. The decline has caused concern, especially in the context of costly imports and a burgeoning oil pool deficit. The government, consequently, set up the Narayanan committee to recommend measures to step up output both at Bombay High and other fields in the country.

The R-group report on the restructuring of the oil industry notes that technology upgradation in the exploration business is a "dynamic process" which increases the probabilities of success and reduces risks.

Improved technology, it adds, also reduces the threshold structure sizes and even marginal fields become profitable to develop. New technology also contributes to a broadening of the reserve base.

On 3-D seismic surveys, which PGS will use in Bombay High, the R-group observes: "Such advanced analytical methods have paid off handsomely by helping companies to squeeze additional hyudrocarbons out of existing producing fields.

Even in well explored areas, improvements in oil recovery techniques add to the reserves." A recent report prepared by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas on the oil sector notes that the demand for crude oil is growing at seven per cent annually while domestic production is projected to increase only marginally. As per current projections, the self-reliance level of 60 per cent achieved in 1990-01 is likely to fall to 35 per cent by the turn of the century.

An oil price or exchange rate shock will have an extremely adverse impact on the balance of payments and macroeconomic stability of the country, the report adds. The government has, thus, formulated a national seismic programme (NSP) to collect seismic data so that all sedimentary basins, including deep water areas, are covered.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.