Secretary
91 - 9445005032
| Post | Name | Email Id | Mobile No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Vice President | Mr. D. C. Pant | pant_dc1@ongc.co.in | 9968282536 |
| Regional Secretary | Mr. Asis Mandal | mandal_asis@ongc.co.in | 9968282568 |
| Regional Treasurer | Ms. Payal Kataruka | kataruka_payal@ongc.co.in | - |
APG Delhi Chapter, which came into being on June 1, 2006, enables the members of the geo-scientific community based in Delhi-NCR to keep themselves abreast of the developments in the upstream E&P sector, as also to share their experiences with fellow members. To fulfil this objective various events have been organised in past two years. A brief of these is furnished below:
The Delhi Chapter of Association of Petroleum Geologists (APG) having organized two successful technical sessions in July and October, 2018 is constantly in look out for increasing geoscientific interactions within the industry. It is also the earnest desire of the Chapter to keep stimulating with new ideas and avenues. This resulted in a thought provoking technical session titled “Unlocking Unconventional Hydrocarbon Potential in India – Making it happen” on 15th March, 2019.
The technical session was graced by some luminaries of the geoscientific community like Shri G. S. Chaturvedi, Director (E)- ONGC Videsh, Shri Pinakadhar Mohapatra, Director (E), Cairn-Vedanta, Shri Satchidananda Rath, Former Director (Ops.)-OIL and Shri Sudhakar Mahapatra, Former Director (E&D)-OIL.
At the very onset, Mr R. K. Pati, Secretary APG-Delhi Chapter, extended warm welcome to the fraternity and conveyed the blessings of Shri A.K. Dwivedi Director (Exploration) and Patron, APG. The session was inaugurated by lighting of the auspicious lamp by the dignitaries. Mr. Pati also cordially extended gratitude to Cairn-Vedanta for sponsoring the meet.
The first talk of the evening dealt with “Exploring of Shale Hydrocarbons in Indian Basins” and was delivered by Dr. Y Ramesh Chandra, Head COD-Shale Gas and Shri A. K. Sinha of ONGC. Dr. Chandra explained that shale-hydrocarbon is a scenario in which Shale acts as the source, reservoir and seal. However, the major issue with shale is its low permeability, because of which exploitation of hydrocarbon from shale requires extensive and efficient hydro fracturing. To emulate the recent success achieved by USA in shale oil/gas, ONGC has focused its efforts in Cambay Basin, KG Basin and A&AA Basins. The talk was ably supplemented by Mr A. K. Sinha with specific studies pertaining to shale property, rock mechanics, gas property and core analyses in addition to conventional geological, geochemical and petrophysical studies. He apprised the house that ONGC has established shale oil play systems within Cambay and KG Basins.
In the present context, the challenges in shale exploration could be low thermal maturity and poor TOC (qualitative and quantitative). The high clay content of shale too is a concern as it reduces the brittleness. It was concluded that keeping in mind the highly rich Barmer Shales with Type-I Kerogen, other basins in India like Raniganj and North Barmer can also be explored.
The second talk of the evening was titled “Unconventional Thinking for an Unconventional Opportunity in Barmer Basin”, delivered by Mr Dennis Beliveau and Dr. Utpalendu Kuila from Cairn-Vedanta. They mentioned that unconventional hydrocarbon source like shale oil/gas is a case of “permeabilitychallenged” or “mobility challenged”. They also came to a conclusion that the Shale probed so far in Indian Basins, mostly comprise of Type-III Kerogen with low thermal maturity. They are optimistic that there will be other areas having high TOC and Type-I Kerogen like Barmer Basin. They shared that the preliminary success in three wells of Barmer basin was achieved by identifying prospective areas using Trinity model in conjunction with producibility maps and storage model. They cautioned that for fair footing it will require much more sampling and refinement of the existing models. They concluded that unlike conventional resource where we follow Explore-Appraise-Develop cycle, the success mantra for unconventional resource play may be “Plan-Do- Measure-Learn-Repeat” cycle.
These very two engaging talks on Shale Oil/Gas were followed by another vista of unconventional i.e. the Coal Bed Methane (CBM). The talk titled “Exploration and Development of CBM–An Indian Odyssey” was delivered by Mr. Dilip Chakrabarti, ONGC. He introduced the concept of coal bed methane to the house, and stated India’s dominant position as one of the top coal producer in the world. Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is a generic term for the methane gas adsorbed on the surfaces of the coal, stored as free gas or as dissolved gas in water within the cleats and pores. Coal itself acts as source, reservoir and trap with storing capacity almost 6 to 7 times more than the equivalent rock volume of a conventional gas reservoir. CBM has about 70-80% heat value as compared to natural gas. A salient feature of methane recovered from coal mines helps reduce in greenhouse gas emission and safety of gassy mines. Mr. Chakrabarti enlightened the house that of the three types of CBM ventures, namely, Coal Mine Methane (CMM), Abandoned Mine Methane (AMM) and Virgin Coal Bed Methane (VCBM); Indian CBM policy aims for VCBM. The talk was concluded with a glimpse of the four CBM Blocks held by ONGC (Bokaro, Jharia, Raniganj and North Karanpura). It was heartening to note that there has been a significant rise in CBM production in the last two years and in foreseeable future CBM may come up as a credible replacement to the expensive Liquefied Natural Gas.
While delivering the concluding remarks Mr. S. Rath, Former Director (Operations)-OIL exhorted the Geoscientists to publish their findings in renowned compilations. He insisted that unit drilling cost is the overriding factor and efforts should be made to drill more horizontal wells than vertical wells for maximizing productivity.
Mr. S. Mahapatra, Former Director (E&D)-OIL a founder member of APG, reminisced on the initial struggle and arduous journey of APG. He advised the community to be always buoyant with ideas. He insisted on the relevance of the theme of the evening and congratulated the speakers for sharing their thought.
Mr. P. Mohapatra, Director (E), Cairn-Vedanta, emphasized on collaboration and integration of data and called for sharing of data across organizations. He expressed his reluctance in accepting that the shale potential of India is low and challenged the G&G community to locate areas with oil rich Type-I Kerogen. He expressed that with the right persons, right policy, right collaboration and right frame of mind, the shale evolution will unfold in India.
Mr. G. S. Chaturvedi, Director (E), ONGC Videsh, applauded the APG forum for facilitating the exchange of ideas and experiences. He mentioned that the Govt. of India has probed ONGC Videsh to venture into Shale Oil/Gas in the US and share experiences and learnings.
As a matter of respect Mr. Pawan Kumar, Vice-President APG Delhi Chapter was felicitated as this was his last offering before laying down office in end March, 2019. Mr. Pawan Kumar applauded the full-house attendance of the evening and heartily thanked all the dignitaries and the audience for their enthusiastic response during the year. He appreciated the office bearers and committee members for their untiring efforts in making the event a success.
The activities of the evening was concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Anusree Karmakar followed by further interactions over a gala dinner.
The Delhi Chapter of APG is persistent in its endeavors targeting increasedgeo-scientific interactions amongst the fraternity. In pursuit of this, a technical session was organized by APG-Delhi Chapter at the India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi on 26.10.2018.
The event was graced by the presence of luminaries of the geo-scientific community which includeDr. P. Chandrasekaran, Director (E&D) OIL, Mr.PinakadharMohapatra, Director (E) Vedanta-Cairn Ltd,Mr. D.Purkayastha, ED-Head, EXCOM,ONGC, Mr. R.K.Srivastava, GGM-Chief E&D Dte, ONGC, Mr. S. Rath, former Director (Ops.), OIL and Mr. SudhakarMahapatra, former Director (E&D),OIL. The two eminent speakers were Mr. AmitavBordoloi, OIL and Mr. Pawan Kumar, GGM-Chief CEC-OG, ONGC and Vice President of APG Delhi Chapter.A large community of member geoscientists includingsuperannuatedmembers made up the enthusiastic audience.
The evening started with a warm welcome of the members by Mr. R.K.Pati, Secretary, APG Delhi Chapter followed by lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries. Mr. Pati conveyed the message of Mr. A. K. Dwivedi, Patron APG and Director (E) ONGC in his absence. Mr. A.K. Dwivedi conveyed his best wishes for the session and also thanked Oil India Ltd for sponsoring it.
The technical session kicked off with the first talk of the evening delivered by Mr. Amitav Bordoloi, OIL aptly entitled “Exploration Challenges in SchuppenBeltArea”. In his talk Mr.Bordoloi dealt with the prospectivity of the Schuppen belt as known from historical times andbetter understanding with increased data and knowledge base.He dealt with a brief chronological events leading to commercial discovery of hydrocarbons in the fold belt area, the architecture of Schuppen belt area, the likely hydrocarbon potentialand the exploration challenges due to its complexity.He further elaborated on the understanding of the basin and the potential locales of hydrocarbon, where OIL is expected to take up drilling of wells.Mr. Bordoloi’s presentation gave way to several interesting queries and observations from the gathered audience.
The second talk of the eveningtitled “Fortune from Missed Opportunities” was delivered by Mr.Pawan Kumar, GGM-Chief CEC-OG, ONGC.At the outset, he grabbed the attention of the audience by making his talk interactive.Mr. Pawan Kumar very interestingly wove the twists and turns associated with thegiant discoveries of “Miller and Liza fields” and presented the case studies in anexcellent animated manner, which held the audience in rapt attention. He emphasized, how the originalexploration players with early successes missed big bonanzas i.e. Miller giant field in the North Sea. In the case of “Liza giant field”, the original global players delayed the exploration activities and farm-in & farm-outhappened, before arelatively new and less experienced players accepted the exploratory challenges and discovered “Liza giant oil field” in the Atlantic Ocean.
Mr. Pawan Kumar stressed that the mantra in both the success stories which lead to creating Fortune out of the so called missed opportunities are:
He advised that, minor seismic anomalies in data-set should not be ignored and must be taken seriously taking into account various G&G principles.Taking cue from Liza discovery, Mr. PawanKumar suggested that we must attempt for analogous geological set up of the Atlantic Ocean to open up Kerala-Konkan basin.
The technical sessions ended with thunderous applause for both the speakers from the audience.
While delivering the concluding remark, Dr. P. Chandrasekaran, Director (E&D) OIL, exhorted the geoscientist community that the challenges posed by data scarcity should not discourage them in exploring in general and the Schuppen beltarea in particular. He stressed that in near future, geoscientists will have to face the gauntlet of this handicap and their only respite will be the guidance from a robust conceptual geological model framework.
The encouraging words and suggestions from the eminent dignitaries provided ample points for the audience to ponder upon and left the gathering looking forward for more such opportunities of technical enlightenment in times to come.
The session was concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Tanvi and was followed by networking dinner.
A technical Meet was organised by Association of Petroleum Geologists (APG), Delhi Chapter under the sponsorship of ONGC Videsh Ltd. on 20thJuly 2018,at “The Park”, New Delhi.
The APG-Delhi Chapter has been revived earlier this year from a dormancy of almost five years with the election of new office bearers i.e. Mr. Pawan Kumar as Vice President, Mr. R.K. Pati as Secretary and Ms. Gargi Sengupta as Treasurer.
The event was graciously attended by eminent dignitaries of the Petroleum geoscientists' forum, including Dr. N. K. Verma, MD-ONGC Videsh, Mr. A. K. Dwivedi, Director (Exploration)-ONGC and Patron-APG, Dr. P. Chandrasekaran, Director (E&D), OIL, Mr. Sudhir Sharma, Director (Exploration)-ONGC Videsh, distinguished speakers Mr. Pinakadhar Mohapatra from Vedanta-Cairn and Dr. Debnath Basu from Schlumberger.
The session was inaugurated by lighting of lamps followed by a brief introduction of all the dignitaries by the Secretary, APG Delhi Chapter. Mr. Pawan Kumar-Vice President of APG Delhi Chapter extended warm welcome to the august gathering.
The first lecture of the session was delivered by Mr. Pinakadhar Mohapatra, Vedanta-Cairn, on "Advances in Stratigraphic Trap Exploration and impact on Subtle Traps: Exploration outlook in India". Mr. Mohapatra emphasised on the fact that with the end of the era of “easy oil”, exploration activities in less obvious stratigraphic or subtle traps within the matured basins is gaining momentum and success in such ventures needs strong integration of data with advanced technologies. He explained that subtle/stratigraphic entrapments and uncommon reservoir conditions like turbidites and carbonate reefs account for most of the aerially extensive global giant fields. Understanding these plays are essential, and analogies from other basins need to be drawn for exercising in our domestic areas. However, one should be wary of overusing these analogies. Innumerable unexpected successes have reactivated presumably matured basins by thinking “out of the box” and thorough integration of all available data while taking the aid of technological advances.
The highly enriched first presentation was followed by the second lecture of the evening, “Thin Bed Reservoir characterization: A workflow standardisation case study”, delivered by Dr. D. Basu from Schlumberger. Dr. Basu, who has had the honour of working with several eminent geologists like Dr. Bouma and Dr. Posamantier, began his lecture by visually enticing the audience with the formation of a turbidite. He emphasised that turbidite flows result in the deposition of thin sand bedswhich subsequently form subtle pays and are prevalently available in deep-water settings. They are not only more numerous, but also aerially more extensive. These turbidite sands are of very good reservoir quality and have been successfully probed in Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and Asia (Myanmar and KG Basin in India). Dr. Basu further elaborated typical standardised workflow to explore and monetise these reservoirs with the help of analogues.
The session stirred the inquisitiveness in several attendees and there were a flood of queries to both the speakers.
The extremely informative and thought provoking technical discussions were followed by concluding statements and technical takeaway from the eminent dignitaries present at the gathering.
Dr. P. Chandrasekaran, Director (E&D), Oil India Ltd. thanked and complimented APG-Delhi Chapter for organising the technical meet and emphasized that such technical sessions should be conducted more frequently.
Mr. Sudhir Sharma, Director (E), ONGC Videsh Ltd. mentioned that APG Delhi chapter is very close to his heart as he was one of its founder members in 2006. He was very pleased to see the chapter live again after half a decade and sincerely hoped that the chapter will gain back its lost glory under the able leadership of Mr. Pawan Kumar. He appreciated the topics discussed and emphasized that these are the two most important areas which can lead us to greater success in the time to come.
Mr. A. K. Dwivedi, Director (E), ONGC summarised that the talks by the two eminent speakers were highly enlightening and a great learning experience. He complimented the APG Delhi Chapter in general and Mr. Pawan Kumar in particular for conducting the technical seminar. He complimented the house for taking keen interest in learning new ideas, techniques and emerging technologies. He expressed that he would be looking forward for such opportunities in future.
Dr. N. K. Verma, MD-ONGC Videsh Ltd. concluded that the talks by both speakers were very interesting and informative. The prime motto of the meet is to share knowledge and experience, and both the topics have highlighted the same. He complimented APG Delhi Chapter for conducting the technical seminar after a long gap of time. He appreciated the message conveyed through the lectures that we need to come out with “out of the box” thinking and leave the conventional wisdom behind. He emphasized that such gatherings need to be held more frequently to provide a platform for such interactive exchange and flow of ideas among the petroleum geoscientists.
The encouraging words and suggestions from the eminent dignitaries provided ample threads for the audience to ponder over and left the gathering looking forward for more such opportunities of technical enlightenment.
The session was concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Priyanka Banerjee and was followed by refreshments and dinner.
A technical session on the theme “Eocene Oil and Gas Fields of Upper Assam, India” was organized by the Chapter on July 8, 2011. The event was sponsored by Oil India Limited (OIL). It started with a talk titled “OIL’s Exploration for Eocene Play in Upper Assam Basin” by Mr. Indrajit Barua, Chief Geologist and Mr. Pradip Kumar Paul, Chief Geophysicist. This was followed by a talk on the theme “Managing OIL’s Eocene Fields” by Mr. Saloma Yomdo, Deputy Chief Engineer (Reservoir) and Dr. Manoj Kumar Sarmah, Research Scientist.
It was for the first time that the geoscientists from OIL were sharing their experiences from the platform provided by APG-Delhi Chapter. The tightly structured talks successfully gave the esteemed members inkling into how the exploration and development cycle is unfolding itself in the OIL-held acreages north of the ONGC’s Banamali-Lakwa-Kuargaon corridor.
The APG-Delhi Chapter organized a technical seminar in New Delhi on Aug 27, 2010 where two eminent geoscientists from ONGC Videsh Limited shared their experiences in the field of exploration risk management and reservoir management in case of heavy oil recovery.
Dr. J Peters, through an articulate presentation of the case history of the Block 24, Syria, highlighted how an exploration strategy with a suitable mix of G&G interpretation skills, use of modern technology and ability to take a calculated risk leads to success in hydrocarbon exploration. The punch line of his talk was “Taking a risk and drilling a prospect does not guarantee hydrocarbons, however not taking the risk guarantees no hydrocarbons.”
Mr. Khireshwar Bora dealt in great detail with the various challenges and possibilities in heavy oil scenarios.
Mr Bora very effectively demonstrated how a meticulous use of various techniques for flow assurance (such as steam injection) and production enhancement (such as use of horizontal wells) has lead to substantial gains in Middle Magdalena Valley, South Colombia. He emphasized that the time for heavy oil was now, as most of the light oil resource was under depletion.
Mr. S.K Srivastava spoke at length about present status of the NELP regime, hydrocarbon resource base of the country, challenges and the way forward for the country in E&P business. The highlight of his talk was that there lies a huge yet-to-find potential for both the conventional and non-conventional hydrocarbons in the country. He also shed light on various challenges facing the upstream hydrocarbon sector in the country.
The gathering was also addressed by Mr. D.K. Pande, Patron APG, and Director (E), ONGC.
