ONGC Videsh makes two new oil discoveries in Colombia, Brazil

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), on October 16 said it has made two new oil and gas discoveries in Colombia and Brazil, strengthening its reserves in Latin America.

OVL made an oil find in Colombia's onshore exploration block CPO-5 in the Llanos basin and major natural gas discovery in the deep offshore exploration block BM-SEAL-4 in Brazil's Sergipe Alagoas Basin, the company said in a statement.

"Well Sol-1, in the block CPO-5 encountered the oil-bearing sands of 8 meters at a depth of 2,852 meters. Oil discovery in Sol-1 confirms the extent of oil pay further south of the block," it said.

OVL had previously discovered commercial oil in the same pay in wells Mariposa-1 and Indico-1 in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both the wells are under production now.

The Indian firm is the operator of the Colombian block with 70 percent participating interest (PI) while the balance 30 percent stake is owned by Petrodorado South America SA, Sucursal (PDSA), Colombia.

OVL said in Brazil, well Moita Bonita-2 encountered natural gas reserves at water depth of 2.6 kilometers.

Brazilian national oil company Petrobras is the operator of block BM-SEAL-4 consortium with a 75 percent stake. OVL holds the remaining 25 percent interest.

The well "encountered gas-bearing sand of total thickness of 39 meters at the depth of 5,227 meters and oil-bearing sand of total thickness of 24 meters at deeper depths. Drill Stem Test (DST) was performed in the gas carrier interval 5,252 meters to 5,291 meters, and the result showed good production from the reservoir," the statement.

OVL has a significant presence in the oil and gas sectors of Brazil and Colombia.

It has stakes in seven exploratory blocks in Colombia. In addition, it is the joint owner of the oil producing company Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd (MECL) along with its partners Sinopec of China.

In Brazil, OVL holds 27 percent interest in the offshore BC-10 block beside the block BM Seal-4.

Block BM Seal-4 is located in the Sergipe Alagoas Offshore Basin in Northern Brazil and has an area of 320 sq km with water depths ranging from 1,500 to 2,700 meters.

The company has stakes in 40 projects in 20 countries spanning from Colombia to New Zealand.

Its portfolio has in-place reserves of 675.721 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent natural gas.