ONGC Director (Exploration) Sushma Rawat took the global stage to present exciting collaboration opportunities in the Indian exploration and production sector at the Technical Session organized by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) on the sidelines of the 24^th World Petroleum Congress held in Calgary, Canada, on 18 September 2023. During the session, titled ‘E&P opportunities in India’, Director (Exploration) highlighted how ONGC is looking forward to global outreach and collaboration in areas of core exploration activities, joint acquisition of hydrocarbon rights in deep offshore areas of common interest, mega offshore bid rounds, carbon capture, and CO2-EOR application.

Notifying the array of opportunities available in the Indian E&P sector, Director (Exploration) announced that ONGC plans to expand offshore acreage expansion from 1,62,703 SKM to 5,00,000 SKM in the next three years through the OALP bidding round. In addition, 1600 MMTOEs of yet-to-find (YTF) resources will also be addressed in the next five years, she said. The future growth prospects of ONGC are focused mainly in Mesozoic plays, the Himalayas (in parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Naga-Schuppen Belt, Manipur, Mizoram in the North East and Karewas, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Spiti area in the north), ultra-shallow water areas on the West Coast, and unconventional resources like geothermal, geological hydrogen, helium and CCUs potential, Mrs Rawat added.

ONGC Director (Exploration) Sushma Rawat unveiling exciting collaboration opportunities in India's E&P sector at 24^th WPC

ED DGH Gautam Sinha, MoPNG Joint Secretary Sanjay Kumar, ONGC Chairman & CEO Arun Kumar Singh, Director (Finance) Pomila Jaspal, Oil India Limited CMD Ranjit Rath, Director (E&D) Oil India Limited Manas Kumar Sharma, and Engineers India Limited (EIL) CMD Vartika Shukla also attended the Technical Session, along with Director (Exploration) Sushma Rawat.

Taking the session forward, ED (Strategy & Planning), Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, Gautam Sinha talked about India’s policy landscape and the recent changes made in the policy framework that are intended to revolutionize the exploration & production sector. He said that the growing Indian economy will drive the energy demand in the next few decades.

“India’s primary energy demand will grow at 2-7% till 2050 compared to the global average of 0.6%. A robust demand growth is expected in the oil and gas sector. At present, India imports around 87% of its crude demand and 45% of gas. Considerable change will be there in the Indian energy mix, with gas increasing significantly.

ED DGH Gautam Sinha talking about changes in India’s policy framework

Mr Sinha discussed that certain factors, such as favorable geology, data availability, supportive policy regime and low above–surface risk, are favoring investment in the Indian E&P. “Moreover, India is focused on increasing domestic production to support the robust energy demand and targets to achieve Net Zero by 2070. India currently stands fourth globally in renewable energy-installed capacity. Prospects of around 99% of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) have also opened up for E&P,” he added.

Besides, Mr Sinha also brought to the attention of the delegates from across the global energy industry and leading exhibitors that affordable data accessibility has been enhanced with the next generation NDR2.0: Cloud platform and opening of a New Energy-Focused Data Center at the University of Houston, USA.

The prospectivity of the Indian Sedimentary Basins was also presented during the session. The National Data Repository (NDR) was also discussed for making data accessible 24/7.

Attendees of the Technical Session listening ardently to the crucial conversations about energy

Additional emphasis was also given to the fact that ONGC is currently engaged in technical discussions with global oil and gas majors like ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies for core E&P activities and Equinor for CCUS, which is the next big thing. Collaboration opportunities are also being explored in imaging, deep and ultra-deep waters, etc.

Meanwhile, Director (Exploration & Development) Oil India Limited Manas Kumar Sharma presented the farm-in opportunities in exploration.

The Technical Session was followed by an interactive session, chaired by ONGC Chairman & CEO Arun Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary (Exploration and Bio-Refineries) Sunil Kumar, Oil India Limited (OIL) CMD Ranjit Rath, ONGC Director (Exploration) Sushma Rawat and ED DGH Gautam Sinha.

The event witnessed a huge turnout of potential investors. Several questions were raised by the investor representatives and were responded to by the panel.

Dignitaries on the dais responding to questions from investor representatives during the interactive session