NEW DELHI: State-controlled Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will kick off oil production from its much-delayed flagship deepsea project in Krishna Godavari basin in Bay of Bengal this month, helping reverse years of decline in output, a senior company official said.

“We plan to start producing from the Cluster-2 project in KG-DWN-98/2 block this month and slowly ramp up,” ONGC director (Production) Pankaj Kumar said here.

A floating production unit, called FPSO, which will be used to produce oil, is already in the block. After several missed deadlines, ONGC has told Shapoorji Pallonji Oil & Gas that its floating production, storage and offloading vessel Armada Sterling-V should prepare to receive the first oil this month.

Oil production from Cluster-2 should have begun by November 2021, but was delayed because of the pandemic.

Kumar said ONGC plans to start producing from 3 to 4 wells initially and slowly connect others. “Initial production could be 8,000 to 9,000 barrels per day.”

ONGC has hired Armada Sterling-V, owned 70 per cent by SPOG and 30 per cent by Malaysia’s Bumi Armada, for producing oil from below seabed.