Australian oil explorer Oilex has received a governmental approval for the sale of gas from its Cambay Field in India.
The company has just recently achieved gas flows from its second well in the field, the Cambay-77H, which holds an estimated reserve of 83 million barrels of oil equivalent in total.
The Cambay-73 well, which received the approval, was originally drilled in 2008 and was subsequently shut in. During an extended production test in 2012 it had a peak production rate of 1 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of gas and 23.5 barrels of condensate.
Returning Cambay-73 to production will increase Oilex’s production levels from the field as well as help collect data to further assess the reservoir deliverability intersected by Cambay-77H, the firm said in a statement.
“As soon as the gas composition from Cambay-77H is confirmed to be similar to Cambay-73, Oilex will be in a strong position to add to our production from Cambay Field,” said Ron Miller, managing director of Oilex.
“Importantly, Cambay-73 and Cambay-77H will also provide significant deliverability data for the Y zone which can be used in upgrading a portion of the independently certified contingent resources into reserves.
“The contracted price remains commercial-in-confidence and was determined by a competitive bidding process. This reassessment will enable Oilex to consider delivery of pipeline quality gas to the high pressure grid located approximately 7 kilometres from this region the field.”
Following the government’s approval, the Cambay joint venture partners will look to establish the appropriate production facilities for Cambay-73 and initially connect the production to a low pressure pipeline grid servicing the local area.
Oilex is the operator of the field with a 30% interest. Oilex NL Holdings India (15%) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (55%) own the remaining shares.