17-12-09 Country's second largest upstream company, OIL India Limited's (OIL), is on look out for new gas buyers even as it is expanding its footprint in 12 states in India with targets to double its production in four years.
The company is apparently not utilizing its existing capacities to the optimum level. And, in its aging fields across north-eastern states, the company is operating below capacity.

"In first three quarters of current financial year, our gas production has gone up by 3-4-%. In the next four years, we will be able to double our gas output."
"OIL has the capability to raise its gas production from Assam but absence of buyers and pipeline network to transport the gas out of the region is forcing the company to sit at its current production level. But we don't have this problem in other parts of the country," said a top official at OIL.

OIL produces crude oil and natural gas from its oil fields in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, non-associated gas from its fields in Rajasthan andprocesses LPG from the natural gas in Assam.
OIL in the future will boost an increase in production from its operational areas in Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Pondicherry.

N.M. Borah, chairman and managing director at OIL said that present customers in Assam are unable to consume the amount of gas they have committed.
"They are unable to take their complete quota. In such a situation, we should give the left over gas to fallback consumers. But unfortunately in Assam, we don't have fallback consumers unlike other states such as Gujarat," Borah said. There are numerous customers in rest of the country across several industries whom we will supply gas as soon as we start producing from new fields, Borah added.

As new customers, OIL will supply feedstock to Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd. (BCPL), in addition to supplying gas to Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL). Other existing customers in northeast include Assam State Electricity Board, BrahmaputraValley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL), Assam Petrochemicals Limited, tea gardens and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco).
"OIL, in partnership with NRL, is building a 250 km gas pipeline from Duliajan to NRL to supply 1 mm cmpd. In the second phase, we will expand the pipeline to Guwahati. After that, we will stand at the gateway for connection to national grid," said the official quoted earlier in the story.

OIL has started trial production at Baghewala field in Rajasthan with 30-40 barrels output per day.
The company will also enter into offshore operation in Cauvery basin as operator and as a joint operator with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) in Andaman deepwater.