The Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC),a state government undertaking,is all set to expand its offshore oil and gas exploration operations to other parts of the country and abroad. Last Monday,the Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had given an in-principle approval to the GSPC to explore two deepwater blocks off the Andaman Sea,and one shallow water block off Dwarka in the Gulf of Kutch. The GSPC plans to undertake exploration of these three offshore blocks in collaboration with the ONGC. Confirming this development to Newsline on Wednesday,sources in the GSPC said the DGH approved in-principle the bids for exploration of these offshore blocks under the eighth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). The GSPC with the ONGC have also bagged a 50-sq km onshore oil block for exploration near Mehsana under the NELP-VIII. The two deepwater offshore Andaman blocks are spread over 4,000 sq km each,with the GSPC having 10 per cent equity with ONGC in each of the blocks known as AN-DWN-2009/5 and 13. The GSPCs share in the shallow water block spread over 1,264 sq km in the Gulf of Kutch known as GK-OSN-2009/1 will be 20 per cent,while in the onshore Mehsana oil block,the state-owned company will have 50 per cent equity with ONGC,a senior GSPC official said. Till now,the GSPC has had only one source of generating revenue from the offshore exploration in Gujarat Hazira near Surat that produces about one million cubic metres of natural gas per day,yielding revenue of Rs 1,500 crore a year. Now,we will have a second offshore block in the state,with the DGH having taken an in-principle decision to award the GK-OSN-2009/1 block for its joint exploration by our company and ONGC, said the official. A Canadian company,Naiko,is GSPCs partner in the Hazira offshore operation. The GSPCs share is 67 per cent. The GSPC has just completed a successful exploration in the DD-West field in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast,and the state government undertaking is all set to start commercial production of gas from it by December 2011. The DGH has already certified two tcf (trillion cubic feet) of natural gas from the DD-West field. In its bid to expand its business horizons in the hydrocarbon sector even beyond the Indian shores,the GSPC had recently inked a concessional agreement with the Egyptian government for two offshore blocks already being explored there in collaboration with the Hyderabad-based firm,Alcor. The GSPC has 80 per cent share in these blocks. We have also been awarded another three offshore blocks in the Gulf of Suez,and for this,a contract will be signed with the Egyptian government early next month. The Adani Group will be a partner with the GSPC (having 60 per cent equity) in one of these three offshore blocks,while two other blocks will be explored in partnership with Oil India Ltd and HPCL where the GSPCs share will be 50 per cent, said the GSPC official,adding that the state-owned company has also inked a profit sharing agreement for exploring three offshore blocks in Yemen.
