On the back of rich expertise gained through successful execution of national and international level projects in energy sector (Hydrocarbons), Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd. (MEIL) has now entered into oil and natural gas production. It is going to produce crude oil and gas from two offshore oil fields. Having been awarded two oil fields in Khambel in Gujarat and Lakshmijan of Assam, MEIL has laid out plans to produce oil and gas in these fieldsfrom 2020 according to P.Rajesh Reddy, Associate Vice-President, Hydrocarbons division of MEIL.
The union government with a view to make the country self-reliant in energy sector, by putting more emphasis on producing oil and gas locally, has come out with a new policy. Under this new policy regime the union government has started awarding oil fields to private companies to produce crude oil and gas. Subsequently MEIL has bagged two such oil fields to develop, maintain and produce crude oil through bidding. Khambel oil field in the Kambay basin of Gujarat in the west coast and Lakshmijan oil field in Arkan basin of Assam in the east have been bagged by MEIL to produce crude oil and gas.
Reducing oil and gas imports by 10% through increasing production locally by 2022 is the sole objective of union government. MEIL has embarked on the mission to achieve this object and has laid out plans to start operations at these two oil fields, accordingly. The action plan of MEIL envisages to commence production of oil and gas on commercial scale by 2020 by kick starting drilling wells in 2018 itself.
MEIL is going to deploy latest technologies and equipment in these two oil fieldswith an investment of 100 million US dollars from its own funds during the next three years. It has already drawn up plans to drill three wells in a phased manner at Khambel oil field. Likewise it has obtained necessary clearances from the government of Assam to undertake excavation of wells at Lakshmijan oil field, said Rajesh Reddy.
Apart from drilling wells processing crudeand separation of gasforms to be a major task in the production. Works on setting up of treatment and effluent plants are underway at these two oil fields. The crude oil and gas thus produced from these wells will be transported and sold to Oil PSUs like IOCL, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL, GSPL, ESSAR, CGD and other related industries.
According to Rajesh Reddy, oil reserves at Khambel oil field in Patan district of Gujarat was estimated to last for a lifetime. A target of extracting 3.70 lakh barrels (BBLS) of crude per annum has been set. Likewise, it targets to produce 1 lakh 30 thousand cubic meters of gas per day. Khambel oil field is located at a distance of 56 kilometres to North Santhal Central Tank Farm (CTF) of ONGC.
According to the estimates of Director General, Hydrocarbons, both Khambel and Lakshmijan oil fields have abundant reserves of crude oil and gas to take up production on commercial scale. Under the new licencing policy of central government, those oil fields chosen by the government have been awarded to private entities to produce oil and gas on commercial scale. MEIL is one among the successful bidders and was awarded two oil fields. MEIL, with its own funds and technological expertise is all set to commence work on these two oil fields. It has already completed all the mandatory administrative formalities like signing agreements and arranging bank guarantees to the government of India.
Already,MEIL has to its credit of successful completion of many national and international projects in energy sector. Apart from taking up of energy related projects in Assam, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tripura, Karnataka and Rajasthan in the country, MEIL has also executed oil refinery related projects in the countries like Kuwait, Jordan, Bangladesh and Singapore. It has a proven track record in setting up of basic infrastructure like crude oil processing plants, compressor plants, gas based captive power plants by adhering to highest quality standards and completing them on time. At MEIL’sHydrocarbons division, the engineering experts duly employs latest technology for works related to fabrication, installation and hook up. MEIL’s Hydrocarbons team will always accord highest priority to adhering to highest global standards in execution of works and completing them, well before the deadline.
The central government has taken up ‘Piped gas to Homes’ programme on a massive scale in order to promote usage of LPG for domestic purposes. MEIL has been part of this programme and successfullybuilt piped gas network in Krishna district of AP, Tumkur and Belgavi districts of Karnataka. It has also bagged a similar project in the state of Telangana. Under this project, MEIL will build a piped gas network of 3100 kilometres in 10 districts of Telangana to serve 5.5 lakh homes with piped gas. Hydrocarbon division of MEIL has been working in tandem with central government in building natural gas pipelines across the country. Megha Gas aims to enhance living standards of the people through piped gas network for both domestic and commercial usage by employing eco-friendly methods thusensuring fruits of infrastructure benefits the society at large.