The first cargo of 57,337 Metric Tonnes of crude oil from the marginal field D-1 of ONGC, located in Mumbai offshore, was despatched to Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL), the subsidiary refinery of ONGC.
ONGC has initiated aggressive measures, taking its marginal fields to production to monetize its assets to the best extent possible. In the last few years, ONGC – India 's Most Valuable Corporation for more than 4 years now – has not left any stone unturned to exploit its discovered resources.
The D-1 field of Bassein and Satellite Asset, the farthest oil field in Western Offshore (200 Kilometres south-west of Mumbai city, and 80 kilometres south-west of Mumbai High) was put on production in February 2006.
D1 field has a resource estimate of 19 million tonnes of In-place Oil. The Government had, earlier, offered D1 for divestment in the first bidding round itself. However, the low price regime, along with the marginal nature of the field – resulted in few takers showing interest.
ONGC wrested the field – which was being given to other organisation on nomination. But, due to unfavorable techno-economics, no development could be taken up the conventional way.
ONGC evolved a phase-wise Exploitation Plan with Water-Injection, and integrated schemes to make the project feasible.
The Field has the potential to yield over 4.57 Million Metric Tonnes of Oil. With a marginal base price of US$ 50 a barrel, the produce is worth over 7500 Crore rupees.
Currently, the field has two producing wells. The present average rate of oil production from D-1 field is over 7000 Barrels of Oil per Day (BOPD). The third well is under drilling and likely to add further to the existing rate of oil production.