ONGC Signs Exploration Agreement With TotalEnergies

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ONGC Signs Exploration Agreement With TotalEnergies
07 Mar 2023
5 min read

News Synopsis

French multinational TotalEnergies has signed a preliminary agreement to look into the potential to explore oil and gas in state-owned ONGC's Mahanadi and Andaman acreage, after supermajors ExxonMobil and Chevron.

In order to "create a holistic framework between the two for exchange of each other's technical strengths in deepwater offshore, especially Mahanadian and Andaman," Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and TotalEnergies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

Due to diminishing output from ageing and mature fields and the lack of a significant oil and gas discovery in recent years, ONGC is working with foreign companies that are more advanced technologically. It intends to increase output by opening challenging reservoirs using its expertise.

ExxonMobil and ONGC signed a contract in August of last year to collaborate on deep-water exploration projects off the east and west coastlines of the nation.

A month later, it inked an MoU with California-based energy giant Chevron Corporation's affiliate Chevron New Ventures PTE Ltd to assess India's potential for exploration.

The initial agreements have not yet resulted in a business relationship for any block.

The partnership with TotalEnergies "shall lead to deployment of best practises and technology in offshore, to reduce greenhouse emissions for sustainable development," according to an additional tweet from ONGC.

According to the statement, this strategic, technology-driven collaboration will foster future cooperation for potential business in the deep waters of the Bay of Bengal for related objectives.

Director of Exploration for ONGC Sushma Rawat stated, "We will jointly evaluate exploration and development opportunities to create synergies with local economies," 

In August 2022, ONGC and ExxonMobil inked a Heads of Agreement (HoA) for the nation's deep-water exploration.

"The collaboration areas focus on the Krishna Godavari and Cauvery basins in the eastern offshore and the Kutch-Mumbai region in the western offshore," the corporation had stated at the time.

The Krishna Godavari, Mahanadi, and Andaman basins, which are known for their abundance in natural gas, are the main places where ONGC is focusing its deep-water exploration efforts. ONGC also has a licence to explore and produce oil and gas from several offshore areas.

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