ONGC said the government of Mozambique has approved the field development plan for a gas field in ‘Area 1’, one of the largest gas blocks in East Africa.
ONGC owns 16% of the block, while 4% of the block is owned by Oil India Ltd and another 10% is controlled by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd via its subsidiary Bharat Petroresources, taking the total stake owned by Government of India companies to 30%.
The block is operated by international oil production company Anadarko Petroleum, which also controls 26.5% of the ownership interest.
The current approval is for developing the Golfinho-Atum natural gas field in Area 1, and will pave the way for the development of the overall block, the company said.
The approved plan envisages an initial “two train” onshore liquefaction plant with a total processing capacity of 12.88 million tons per year, ONGC said. In addition, the project will supply 100 mln cubic feet of natural gas per day (0.9 million tons per year) to the domestic market of Mozambique.
Ultimately, Area 1 can have an output of 50 million tons per year, the company said.
“The approval of the Development Plan is the culmination of several years of progress on technical and commercial aspects of the development,” it said, adding that the approved project is “foundational” and paves the way for significant future expansion of production from Area 1.
The Area 1 block located in the deep-water Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique and has estimated recoverable resources of approximately 75 trillion cubic feet of gas (1.89 bln tons of oil equivalent).
Besides the above companies, other stakeholders in the block are Mitsui (20%), ENH (15%) and PTTEP (8.5%).
Major legal and contractual framework agreements for the development of the field are in place and resettlement implementation activities & site preparation have started, ONGC added.
“The approval of the development plan is a significant milestone in the further progress of the Mozambique Rovuma Area-1 Offshore Project towards achieving final investment decision,” it added.
FID is when companies involved finalize their investment roadmap and plans.
ONGC has 39 projects in 18 countries via its ONGC Videsh subsidiary, including in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Myanmar, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, .Venezuela, Vietnam and New Zealand.
ONGC Videsh is currently producing about 267,000 barrels of oil and equivalent gas.