OIL starts exploration activities in Rajasthan Siyasar block

Oil India Limited (OIL) has commenced exploration activities, including seismic survey data acquisition in its Rajasthan’s Siyasar block, RJ-ONHP-2017/9. The block falls under Bikaner and Ganganagar districts of Rajasthan.

OIL had won the block under OALP-I round and, with this, it has become the first operator to begin the exploration activities under the committed work programme (CWP) in an OALP regime block in the country.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG) under the Government of India (GoI) has undertaken a wide gamut of pathbreaking reforms over the last five years in the E&P sector, including Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) with the National Data Repository (NDR) being launched in June 2017. OIL has been awarded 21 exploration blocks under OALP-I, II, III and IV rounds.

The revenue sharing contract of the above mentioned block was signed on October 1, 2018, while the Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) of the block was awarded by the Govt. of Rajasthan on May 27, 2019, for a period of 3 years.

During H1FY20, the company’s crude oil production was 1.63 MMT compared to 1.70 MMT crude oil produced during H1FY19. The natural gas production increased 1459 MMSCM from 1430 MMSCM in H1FY19. Due to the fall in international crude oil prices, the average crude oil price realization declined by 12.29 per cent while natural gas realization improved by 20.6 per cent in H1FY20 on YoY basis.

On Wednesday, OIL stocks closed at Rs. 158.60. On Thursday, it opened at Rs. 159.20. At 10:42 am, the stock was trading at Rs. 157.20.