The Union Government is likely to allow ONGC to auction small and marginal fields that it has not found economical to develop, so that the discoveries in the fields could be brought into production.

In all, the company has 165 marginal fields, of which 144 fields have either been put on production or are in the process of monetisation. The remaining 21 fields might be auctioned for development through an international competitive bidding (ICB) route.

These 21 marginal fields comprise of five oilfields (four onland and one offshore), 14 gas fields (nine onland and five offshore) and two offshore oil and gas fields which are estimated to have combined crude reserves of 0.4969 million tonne and gas reserves of 1.519 billion cubic mtrs. Of the total, five are in Gujarat, one in Rajasthan and seven in Andhra Pradesh, and the remaining eight are in shallow water off the west coast.

The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is likely to approach the CCEA for approval of the new Marginal Field Policy, under which ONGC and Oil India can auction off a large number of marginal fields, where discoveries have been made but not monetised, for development.

Also See:

Bihar, ONGC sign pact for petro exploration deal (30-Oct-09)