India has offered its support to Uganda in developing its oil and gas assets. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora expressed as much, when he was at Kampala recently. Deora headed a high powered delegation comprising CEOs of ONGC, IOC, GAIL, OIL and OVL that was on a tour of several major African countries in January this year, including Sudan, Nigeria, Angola and Uganda, with the objective of creating a mutually beneficial investment climate for oil and gas companies of India and the African countries. Speaking at a meeting with the Vice President of Uganda Dr. Gilbert Balibaseka Bukenya in Kampala, Deora said: "India is not merely looking at business, but for becoming a partner in progress." He also referred to the relations between the two countries and was hopeful of deepening the same particularly in the oil and gas sector.

President Bukenya has sought Indian assistance for faster development of their oil and gas sector Bukenya underlined that India can help in providing simple and inexpensive means to the African nation for accelerating development of different areas along the hydrocarbon value chain. The Vice President said that India should also extend its assistance in the downstream petroleum sector, and pointed out that the two countries had a lot of similarities as both were striving to improve the lives of their respective citizens. Meanwhile, Uganda's Energy and Minerals Minister Hillary Onek conveyed that Africa in general and Uganda in particular are looking for Indian assistance especially in the oil and gas sector as India has necessary technique and resources. 

ONGC and Angola's state-owned company Sonangol have signed an agreement to bid for oil field in the African nation. Angola has also been offered a multi-billion dollar refinery by Indian Oil Corp (IOC). ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas unit of the state owned ONGC, signed a memorandum of understanding with Sonagol. The agreement would enable ONGC to participate in Angola's next bid round as well as to collaborate in exploration in the countries.

As leader of the entourage visiting African countries in January, Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora met Angola's Oil Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos in Luanda on Jan 28^th to discuss the collaboration and ties between the two countries in the field of energy while GAIL India had expressed interest in a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Angola. The two companies will jointly bid for exploration acreage this year in the country and also collaborate in exploration opportunities in India and third countries.

Chairman of the Indian Oil Corporation Sarthak Behuria offered to construct a 10 million tonne refinery at Lobito under the Sonaref project and also offered to upgrade the country's two existing oil refineries. IOC has also offered services relating to providing operation and maintenance support to the petroleum pipelines in Angola. The offer was well received by Angola and the country hinted at the possibility of collaboration with the IOC.

 R S Pandey retires as petroleum secretary on January 31, 2010. His tenure has seen turbulent times riddled with controversies. The strike by top officials of leading oil companies, pricing woes, particularly the spat between the Ambani brothers over D-6 Gas sale and the dithering by the government on the issue, topped up with the charges of favoritism aimed at the DGH by Anil Ambani. All this and more was served up to Pandey during his tenure. Now, at the fag end of his term, he spoke to the media and shed some light on these issues.

When asked to comment on the court judgment declaring that PNGRB did not have the power to grant authorization to City Gas Distribution entities, he said that issues arising out of the High Court judgment were under examination in consultation with legal experts and a solution would be found soon, most probably through amendments. The empowerment of the Board has been questioned by the Court thus implying that the Board could not issue authorizations and neither could the central government. Pandey however defended the MoP&NG’s stand and said, “We could be advised to go to the superior court to find a better solution, another option could be to amend the Act through an ordinance. There will be a way out.”

On other issued that stirred the pot during his tenure, Pandey said, “The times were difficult. For one, oil prices were highly volatile; they shot through the roof and then came down drastically. Then there was the Oil officers’ strike. The RIL-RNRL dispute also kept us engaged. There were challenges involved in getting into production phases in the D-6 and Barmer fields. But the problems notwithstanding, there was a big spurt in production after a gap of a decade.” He refused to concede that NELP VIII was a disaster. On a pointed question he said, “I believe that given the fact that there was a worldwide recession, bids for the NELP round may not have been at the optimal level, but even so, a large number of blocks have been allotted and a good amount of investment has been committed. I did face adverse and volatile situations, both internally and externally, but I think we handled them in the best manner possible.”

In the month of December 2009, ONGC drilled 12 exploratory wells, short of the targeted 17. Ten of the wells drilled were onshore wells (against a target of nine wells) and two were offshore wells (against a target of eight wells). This works out to a 25% shortfall in onshore exploratory drilling and a 26% underachievement in offshore exploratory drilling for the period in question. ONGC's cumulative exploratory drilling work completed during the April-December, 2009, period was of 78 wells. This was 25% short of the target of 104 wells. Out of the wells drilled during the April-December 2009 period, 58 wells were onshore wells (against a target of 77 wells), while 20 were offshore wells (against a target of 27 wells).

The exploration major has however sought to explain why it could not meet the targets set for the period in question. Touching on the Ankleshwar / Cambay area, ONGC pointed out that non-readiness of exploratory drill sites forced it to divert rigs earmarked for drilling operations in this asset to other areas for work-over and development drilling activities. The drilling programme in the upper Assam region was badly hit by the non-availability of charter-hired rigs. Other setbacks that hampered operations were the delay in completion of sidetracking operations at some wells which led to postponement in taking up other exploratory locations. Activities were also hit badly by bandhs and barricades, according to the company. The delay in deployment of one charter-hired rig and non-availability of another had adversely impacted the drilling programme in the cauvery basin, said ONGC. Also, complications like mud loss in one well and abnormal well activity in another did not help matters.  

Drilling complications necessitated the side tracking of a well, which delayed the exploratory work programme in the KG basin, the company explained. Also, the drilling rig Sagar Vijay, which was to be deployed in the basin, was under dry docking. Work had also been affected by the need to repair the leg of the rig Hercules-260. There were also complications in the drilling of a well during sidetracking, ONGC said. A rig could not be deployed on time in the Gulf of Cambay area due to excessive undulation on the seabed. A route survey was subsequently carried out for rig deployment in this basin, following which the rig, CE Thornton, was deployed in a water depth of 15 metres. All three proposed wells in this asset will now be completed only by the end of 2009-10, ONGC assured.