ONGC, Reliance Industries ink MoU for sharing deepwater resources on India’s east coast

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and privately-owned refiner Reliance Industries entered into an agreement for sharing of resources emanating from their deepwater exploration and production operations in India’s East coast, particularly across the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin and Andaman offshore.

According to a joint statement from the two entities, the deal would provide for sharing of key resources required for offshore operations, which may also include that for onshore and offshore processing. These include facilities, drilling rigs, marine vessels, power, pipelines , logging and well services, etc. 

The statement adds that the deal would help with optimising costs, strengthen operational resilience alongside faster mobilisation and execution.

Enumerating further about the rationale of the agreement, Director for Exploration at ONGC O.P. Sinha stated the agreement framework would provide for sharing of resources that either of them may have in surplus.

The enabling framework of the collaborative agreement, for sharing of infrastructure and facilities at both onland and offshore, was provisioned with an amendment to the regulating Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act last year. 

Further responding to queries about potentially expanding on scope of the deal to other avenues in future, Mr. Sinha stated, “It would not be limited to KG Basins and [can] happen elsewhere also.” 

He had explained, “If I share the infrastructure, two, three or more companies can join hands to share the same resources and optimally and profitably use that infrastructure. In that direction, things would be moving.”