“在陆上，我们或多或少地在大多数盆地进行了钻探、评估或获取了数据，”这家国有巨头的勘探总监Sushma Rawat在接受采访时表示。“但在近海仍有大片区域，我们的数据非常稀疏，几乎没有钻井。”
对原油需求迅速增长的印度迫切希望降低燃料进口费用，加强能源安全，并鼓励国有控股的印度石油天然气公司(ONGC)等公司加大对国内石油和天然气储备的开发。这是一场赌博，如果成功，将为生产商和寻求减少海外依赖的政府带来回报。
Rawat表示，ONGC计划在即将到来的政府拍卖中积极竞标，到2026年3月将其勘探面积从目前的约16.3万平方公里增加到50万平方公里。年度支出将从每年700亿到800亿卢比增加到1100亿卢比(13亿美元)。
对ONGC来说，推动勘探也是为了应对产量下降。在截至去年3月底的10年里，石油产量下降了17.5%，至1960万吨，而天然气产量减少了10%多一点，至209亿立方米，这使得印度容易受到进口成本飙升的影响。
ONGC占印度石油产量的66%，天然气产量的58%。这部分是在近海，但在浅水区。唯一的深水生产项目是位于Krishna Godavari盆地的KG-DWN-98/2区块。那里的原油产量将于5月开始，远远超过2019年的原定目标。
Rawat和ONGC的官员希望利用这一机会，试图通过与埃克森美孚公司、雪佛龙公司和道达尔能源SE建立一系列合作伙伴关系来加快努力。ONGC拥有该国一半以上的租赁勘探面积，这使其成为一个有吸引力的合作伙伴。
目前，ONGC面临的挑战是将广泛的协议转变为切实的勘探联盟，伍德麦肯兹亚太区上游研究总监Angus Rodger表示：“印度政府希望看到印度企业与最好的国际勘探公司之间出现新的合作伙伴关系。”
Rawat说，全球石油巨头担心与印度海上潜力相关的风险，正在敦促印度政府提供更好的条件，包括增加仲裁条款，确保其财政制度的稳定性和合法依规履行责任。
India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. is preparing to bet billions of dollars on deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration, boosting spending in a push that could help one of the world’s top oil importing nations reduce reliance on overseas supply.
Onshore, we have more or less drilled, appraised or acquired data in most of the basins,” Sushma Rawat, Director of Exploration for the state-owned giant, said in an interview. “But there are still large tracts offshore where we have very sparse data, where almost no wells have been drilled.”
India, with a fast-growing appetite for crude, is eager to reduce its fuel import bill and bolster energy security and has encouraged companies like state-controlled ONGC to do more to tap domestic oil and gas reserves. It’s a gamble that, if successful, would yield rewards for producers and for a government looking to reduce its overseas dependence.
Rawat said ONGC plans to bid aggressively in upcoming government auctions to increase its exploration acreage to 500,000 square kilometers (193,050 square miles) by March 2026, from around 163,000 square kilometers today. Annual spending will rise to 110 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) from an annual 70 billion to 80 billion rupees.
For ONGC, the exploration push is also about countering a decline in production. In the decade to the end of March last year, oil output dropped 17.5% to 19.6 million tons, while gas shrank just over 10% to 20.9 Bcm — a decline that has left India vulnerable to surging import costs.
ONGC accounts for 66% of India’s oil output and 58% of its gas. That’s partly offshore, but in shallow waters. The only producing deepwater project is its KG-DWN-98/2 block in the Krishna Godavari basin. Crude oil output there is due to start in May — well past the original target of 2019.
Rawat and officials at ONGC want to leverage the opportunity, trying to speed up efforts by striking a string of partnerships with Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and TotalEnergies SE. ONGC holds just over half of the country’s leased exploration acreage, making it an appealing partner.
Now the challenge for ONGC is to turn broad agreements into tangible exploration alliances, said Angus Rodger, upstream research director for Asia Pacific at Wood Mackenzie: “The Indian government wants to see new partnerships emerge, between Indian players and the best international explorers.”
The global oil majors, wary of the risks associated with India’s offshore potential, are pushing for better conditions from the Indian government, Rawat said, including with the addition of clauses on arbitration, reassurance around the stability of the fiscal regime and on criminal liability.
