RIL, BGEPIL transfer 60 percent stake to ONGC to operate Panna-Mukta offshore field

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BG Exploration and Production India Limited (BGEPIL) have transferred a 30 per cent stake each to ONGC to operate the Panna-Mukta-Tapti offshore fields from December 21, 2019. Earlier, ONGC had a 40 per cent stake in the project. However, Tapti stopped production three years ago and production from the other two fields started declining, prompting RIL and BGEPIL to decide on exiting the fields at the end of the 25-year lease in December 2019. Following this, the Maharashtra government decided to transfer the remaining 60 per cent to ONGC as well. The scope of work includes deployment of a floating storage and offloading unit in the Panna field, moored to the new single-point mooring for safer evacuation of Panna crude, with a minimum capacity of 15,000 barrels of crude oil per day and by using a tandem mooring and offloading system (by means of a hose streamed from the hose reel on the storage tanker) to the offtake tanker.