RoydadNaft –  State-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL) is in discussion with French energy company TotalEnergies for exploration of hydrocarbon blocks off India’s coast, either as a technical partner or a “participating interest” (equity) partner, a senior company executive told FE.

The company is looking to bid aggressively under the next open acreage licensing policy (OALP) bidding rounds wherein offshore blocks are expected to go under the hammer.

“We have held discussions with TotalEnergies and are now framing the memorandum of understanding on whether they want to come on board as a technical partner or if they are interested to be a participating interest partner,” the company executive said.

The company is also in discussion with other international oil companies, including PTT Exploration and Production Public Company in Thailand, Malaysian state-owned oil and gas company Petronas, and Vietnamese state-owned oil company Petrovietnam, for exploration of offshore blocks.

“We are actually talking to various international partners. Many are interested. We are talking with TotalEnergies, PTTEP because they are in proximity, and Petronas. We have initiated a discussion with Petrovietnam,” the person said. The company has signed an MoU with PTTEP. “They (PTTEP) have come and seen our data, and so have Petronas that has shown interest,” the official said.

Oil India has already signed a non-disclosure agreement with Petronas and is going into the MoU stage, as per the source.
The company is targeting to produce 3.8 million tonne of oil equivalent crude oil in FY25 and 3.8 billion cubic metres of natural gas. Oil India’s annual production growth rate has been increasing by 5-6% annually in the last few years.

Oil India is also expected to drill more wells overseas amid its goal to drill over 75 wells this financial year. In Libya, the company has already drilled five-and-a-half wells and hopes to drill two more wells before the end of FY25 as per its minimum work programme commitment.

Earlier FE had reported that OIL is looking to resume its operations in the block Area 95/96 in Libya in this financial year. The company had suspended its operations in the block since May 2014 under force majeure clause, following the civil unrest in the African country.

The company has a 25% participating interest (PI) in the block with another 25% with Indian Oil Corp and the remaining 50% with SIPEX (Sonatrach International Production and Exploration). SIPEX is also the operator of the block Area 95/96 in Libya.
“Libya is opening up. We will come out with some production capacity numbers once the field development study is done. By the end of this financial year we should expect some development.”

Additionally, the company is negotiating the terms and conditions with ONGC’s overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd for its drilling operations in Bangladesh.

In its post AGM conference, the company’s Chairman told mediapersons that the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh has had no impact either on its supplies of diesel to the country through the 130 km long Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline or the expansion of the Numaligarh refinery.

Oil India is also looking to start its drilling operations in the Andaman blocks by October and will soon be floating a tender next month to start operations in the offshore block in Kerala.

“In Andaman we are going to drill by October. The rig is already on the move. In Kerala too, the study part is complete and we are thinking of starting drilling operations. We have already finalised everything and will float the tender next month,” said the source.