Shell to Begin Drilling for Oil in North India
November 25, 1998 - 0:0
BOMBAY The Indian arm of the Anglo-Dutch petroleum conglomerate royal Dutch/Shell is set to begin drilling for oil in the north Indian desert state of Rajasthan, officials said Tuesday. It will be the company's first onshore well in India. We should start drilling in the second half of next month, Derek Corbishley, managing director Shell India Production Development BV, told AFP. Corbishley said Shell had just finished laying an access road and a causeway across a river to reach the site.
We will shortly sign a drilling contract with an Indian company, but everything else, down to drilling pipes, is in place, he said. Corbishley said Shell had been prospecting in the region for three-and-a-half years. Our geological and geophysical surveys have led us to drill this well. It is a very risky project as the chances of success are slim, but we are confident enough to risk a well, he said.
Corbishley said Shell had so far spent $14 million ahead of the drilling operation, while the drilling itself would cost between eight and 10 million dollars. Corbishley said oil recovery in India has been very low compared to world standards because of difficult terrain and a high gas-oil ratio. In India, oil recovery is in the range of 22 to 26 percent, while that of the Brent oil fields in North Sea is currently at a low of 56 percent, he said.
India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary T.S. Vijayraghavan said the country's estimated oil reserves were about 28 billion tons, of which only 6.5 billion tons had been located. Current domestic oil production is from only 22 percent of the known oil reserves. Surveys have not been conducted in 46 percent of the area, while in 16 percent it is poorly done and exploration has just begun on the remaining 16 percent, he said.
(AFP)
We will shortly sign a drilling contract with an Indian company, but everything else, down to drilling pipes, is in place, he said. Corbishley said Shell had been prospecting in the region for three-and-a-half years. Our geological and geophysical surveys have led us to drill this well. It is a very risky project as the chances of success are slim, but we are confident enough to risk a well, he said.
Corbishley said Shell had so far spent $14 million ahead of the drilling operation, while the drilling itself would cost between eight and 10 million dollars. Corbishley said oil recovery in India has been very low compared to world standards because of difficult terrain and a high gas-oil ratio. In India, oil recovery is in the range of 22 to 26 percent, while that of the Brent oil fields in North Sea is currently at a low of 56 percent, he said.
India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary T.S. Vijayraghavan said the country's estimated oil reserves were about 28 billion tons, of which only 6.5 billion tons had been located. Current domestic oil production is from only 22 percent of the known oil reserves. Surveys have not been conducted in 46 percent of the area, while in 16 percent it is poorly done and exploration has just begun on the remaining 16 percent, he said.
(AFP)