ONGC fails to get partner for Deen Dayal gas field for third time: Report

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has failed to get a partner for third time for the Deen Dayal gas field in the KG basin in the Bay of Bengal, said a report by news agency PTI.

Citing sources, the report said the tender offering stake to technical and financial partners in the Deen Dayal field, which ONGC had acquired from a Gujarat government firm for $1.2 billion, received no bids.

The company was looking for a global partner who could help with the development of Deen Dayal West. This was the third attempt in last five years. The earlier attempts too had not drawn any worthwhile interest, the sources said.

On June 12, ONGC had sought expression of interest from "global oil and gas companies with requisite technical expertise and financial strength to join as partner (with participative interest) for firming up a viable strategy" for the field.

Bids closed on September 12.

Gas production

The field has produced negligible quantities of gas since ONGC acquired Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation's (GSPC) 80 per cent interest in the KG-OSN-2001/3 block off the east coast of India in January 2017.

The block contains the Deen Dayal West (DDW) gas/condensate field which was discovered by GSPC almost two decades back. The Gujarat government company had showcased the field as a promising prospect when it sold its stake to ONGC in order to cut its debt.

"A total of seven development wells are drilled till date," ONGC had said in the tender document.

A development well is one that helps produce hydrocarbon from below the Earth's surface or seabed.

"However, four wells which were completed did not yield good productivity as anticipated and performance was sub-optimal. Severe technical challenges and complications were encountered in the other three wells during drilling and completion phase and had to be abandoned," ONGC had said.

The KG-OSN-2001/3 block, which was awarded to GSPC and its partners in the first bid round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) brought by the then NDA government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, comprises five fields - DDW, DDE, DDN, DD-DT and DD-BRU. Of these, DDW, which lies about 10 km off the Andhra Pradesh coast, is spread over 37.5 square kilometers and is under development.