Russia’s giant Vankor oilfield, where Indian state oil firms are acquiring a significant stake, has reached peak production level, but technology to increase oil recovery will optimise the output and delay its decline, the head of ONGC’s overseas arm said.
Indian state firms hope to get 10.5 million tonne of crude oil from Vankor once deals are completed to acquire 49.9 % in Russia’s second-largest oilfield, whose output of 21million tonne a year is about the same as ONGC’s entire production from all its Indian fields. Rosneft had announced in March last year that Vankor’s output would decline slightly from the plateau level of 22 million tonne a year.
“We had entered at the peak production level, and as it happens in all oil fields, this field too will undergo a decline. But with the application of enhanced oil recovery techniques, the decline can be delayed and production optimised,”
ONGC announced a deal to buy 15% stake in the Vankor last year, and is in talks to raise that to 26%. This month, a consortium of Indian Oil Corporation, Oil India and Bharat Petroleum struck a deal to acquire 23.9% in Vankor. Official sources said ONGC paid $1.27 billion, while the consortium spent $2 billion for the bigger stake, giving the same valuation to the giant field.
Last week, Rosneft said the “achieved evaluation” of the Vankor project was $3.3 per barrel of reserves. Recoverable reserves of Vankor, the largest field commissioned in Russia in the last 25 years, stood at 361 million tonne of oil and condensate and 138 bcm of gas as of January this year.
India and Russia have intensified energy engagement over the past year.
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