Oil Drilling Companies In India – Finding Gold in Offshore Gas Exploration and Production

The Indian economy has performed strongly over the last few years, regularly hitting 8% and above growth rates . This rapid economic growth has led to a significant increase in demand for crude oil and natural gas, to the extent that India is currently the sixth largest consumer of oil and gas. India is one of the biggest importers of crude oil and natural gas as it has to import 2/3rd of its requirements of Oil. Upstream activity in India has rapidly grown post liberalization with 42 active offshore rigs and several seismic vessels engaged in operations offshore on the east and west coasts. Several significant discoveries have been announced since the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) was introduced. The commercial discovery of the Dhirubhai field by Reliance in the deepwater Krishna Godavari basin has demonstrated the existence of significant reserves in the basins of India. As India imports about two-thirds of its crude oil requirement, Exploration and production of oil and gas is critical for India’s energy security and economic growth. Over the years the E&P industry has registered significant growth, primarily due to spiraling crude oil and gas prices.

List of Oil and Gas Drilling Companies

Note most of India’s Oil and Gas Companies are involved in the E&P activities as well.The post here details the E&P activities of the integrated Oil and Gas Majors.It also covers the major features of pure oil/gas explorers such as Selan Exploration.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. – IndianOil is India’s flagship national oil company with business ranging from refining, pipeline transportation and marketing of petroleum products to exploration & production of crude oil & gas, marketing of natural gas and petrochemicals. IndianOil closed the year 2009-10 with a sales turnover of Rs. 271,074 crore and profits of Rs. 10,221 crore. IndianOil and its subsidiary (CPCL) account for over 48% petroleum products market share, 34.8% national refining capacity and 71% downstream sector pipelines capacity in India. The IndianOil Group of companies owns and operates 10 of India’s 20 refineries with a combined refining capacity of 65.7 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA, .i.e. 1.30 million barrels per day approx.). IndianOil’s cross-country network of crude oil and product pipelines, spanning 10,899 km and the largest in the country to meet the energy needs of the consumers. It has a portfolio of powerful energy brands that includes Indane LPGas, SERVO lubricants, XtraPremium petrol, XtraMile diesel, etc.  To enhance upstream integration, IndianOil has been pursuing exploration & production activities both within and outside the country in collaboration with consortium partners.

In Exploration & Production, IndianOil’s domestic portfolio includes 11 oil and gas blocks and 2 CBM blocks in India including 2 blocks as part of a consortium under NELP-VIII (blocks GK-OSN-2009/1 and GK-OSN-2009/2). The overseas portfolio includes nine blocks spread across Libya, Iran, Gabon, Nigeria, Timor-Leste and Yemen. Exploration activities are at various stages of progress.

Oil India Ltd. – OIL is like IOCL a government owned PSU engaged in the business of exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas, transportation of crude oil and production of LPG. OIL also provides various E&P related services and holds 26% equity in Numaligarh Refinery Limited.

OIL currently owns and operates 13 drilling rigs and 14 work-over rigs, besides charter hiring drilling rigs based on operational requirement. Over 1,000 wells covering over 3.5 million metres, varying in depth from 1,000 – 5,000 metres, have been drilled in various surface and sub-surface environments, including high underground pressures and temperature conditions.OIL has over 1 lakh sq km of PEL/ML areas for its exploration and production activities, most of it in the Indian North East, which accounts for its entire crude oil production and majority of gas production. Rajasthan is the other producing area of OIL, contributing 10 per cent of its total gas production.

ONGC Corp – With a market cap of Rs. 235,000 crores ,ONGC is the biggest government owned oil/gas company. It cumulatively produced 803 Million Metric Tonnes of crude from 111 fields. ONGC’s wholly-owned subsidiary ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) is the biggest Indian multinational, with 40 Oil & Gas projects in 15 countries. The company earned a revenue of approx Rs. 20,000 crores with net profit margin of 34% in Dec’10.The company has E&P activities across the entire country as well as internationally.

Cairn India – With a market cap Rs. 66,000 crores, Cairn India is now one of the biggest private exploration and production companies currently operating in the region. A subsidiary of the British company Cairn,its growth has been nothing short of phenomenal after winning a bid to explore oil blocs in Rajasthan in the NELP. Originally estimated to produce 101 million barrels of crude oil, Ravva has now produced around 225 million barrels. The Company and its joint venture partners have completed a 4D seismic acquisition campaign to identify bypassed oil zones within the field and the scope of further reserve addition through future infill drilling.The company was recently taken over by Vedanta in a deal that has generated a huge amount of controversy.

Reliance Industries Ltd. -It  is India’s largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. The overall group’s annual revenues are in excess of US$ 58 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global 500 company. The company found the biggest oil/gas find in the country at   KG-D6 off the coast of the eastern seaboard in Andhra Pradesh.The design capacity of the KG-D6 deepwater gas production facilities were assessed and achieved a flow rate of 80 MMSCM.  Oil production from the D26 field now exceeds 35,000 barrels per day.  Currently, RIL’s portfolio consists of 29 exploration blocks. Also, RIL holds 30% interest in PMT fields. Total domestic oil and gas exploration and production acreage amounts to 290,633 sq. kms. In the Panna-Mukta and Tapti Fields, current production from PK wells is around 5,000 Barrels of Oil Per Day (BOPD).

Pure Play Oil Drilling Companies

Hindustan Oil Exploration company Ltd. -It  incorporated in 1983 for taking up Exploration and Production (E&P) activities. HOEC was the first private company in India to enter field of oil and gas exploration. The Company has participating interest in nine oil/gas fields in India (in Cambay basin, Cauvery basin, Assam Arakan basin and Rajasthan basin), which are in varying stages of E & P life cycle i.e. exploration, development and production.

Adani Welspun Exploration Ltd. – Adani Welspun Exploration Limited is a joint venture (JV) company between Adani Group(65%) and Welspun Group(35%) to undertake upstream oil & gas business. AWEL is a medium sized Oil & Gas company with exploration & production assets globally. The business is spread across Assam-Arakan Basin which is a polycyclic basin in the north-eastern part of India. It is a proven petroliferous basin covering an area of about 116,000 sq. km. Around 115 oil and gas fields have been discovered in the Basin. . In the Cambay Basin more than 90 Oil & Gas fields have been discovered.

BG Exploration & Production India Ltd. – A leading player in the global energy market, BG Group has operations in more than 25 countries over five continents.The business include exploration and production, transmission, through pipeline systems or LNG liquefaction and transport.

The company has a 30% interest in Mid and South Tapti gas fields and Panna/Mukta oil and gas fields, 45% interest in one block in the Krishna Godavari Basin and a 25% participating interest in the MN-DWN-2002/2 block.Three development wells completed in Mid and South Tapti in 2010.

Selan Exploration Technology Ltd. -It  is a private sector listed company, incorporated in 1985, engaged in oil exploration and production since 1992.SELAN was among the first private sector companies to have obtained rights to develop three discovered oilfields in the state of Gujarat namely Bakrol, Indrora and Lohar, all with proven oil and gas reserves. SELAN was later awarded two more fields in Gujarat namely Ognaj Oilfield and Karjisan Gas field.

Hardy Exploration & Production (India) Inc. – It is an upstream international oil and gas company whose assets are principally in India. The company is a minority partner with Reliance in the KG BasinIts portfolio includes a blend of exploration,appraisal, development, and production assets.In India, HEPI has a participating interest in one producing property and four exploration licences.In PY3, HEPI has an 18 per cent. interest in this field which accounts for all the Group’s production. It is located offshore in shallow water and produces a light, high quality crude oil.The company has exploration licenses in CY )S/2.In Four Fields it hold 10% stake with Reliance as its partner