India's ONGC Awards 49 Marginal Oil, Gas Fields

Indian state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has awarded 49 marginal producing oil and gas fields to seven companies, it said on May 14 in a statement.

“The bid process for seeking partners for enhancement of production from 64 marginal nomination fields was held recently. Interested companies participated in the international competitive bidding process for 17 onshore contract areas comprising of producing oil and gas fields,” ONGC said.

These fields span across 13 contract areas in the states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. “It is expected with the award of these contract areas, the production from these marginal fields would be enhanced,” the company said. These contracts will be for a period of 15 years, with an option to extend by five years. 

The marginal field refers to a field which due to various factors – geologic, geographic, technological or economic – may not produce enough net income to make it worth developing at a given time. In today's low-priced market, more fields will be in that category. However, should technical or economic conditions change, such a field may become commercially viable.