Livemint: BPCL Partner Pegs Final Gas Resources in Mozambique Field at 75 tcf

A natural gas bonanza off the eastern coast of Africa has become a rare source of cheer for three of India’s state-owned oil exploration companies buffeted by record low crude oil prices.

The reason: Bright prospects in Mozambique, where the exploration arm of Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) hold a majority stake in the Rovuma Area 1 basin. After completing the exploration programme, the field’s operator Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has pegged the final recoverable natural gas resource in the area at 75 trillion cubic feet (tcf).

The 30% share in the field jointly held by the three firms entitles them to more than 22 tcf of reserves. This translates to nearly three times the reserves at India’s biggest gas field in offshore Bassein operated by the Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) that holds close to 8 tcf; or 16 times the reserves at the D6 block of Reliance Industries Ltd in the Krishna-Godavari basin in the eastern offshore of India. MORE