ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of ONGC, is aiming at drilling 8.87-9 million tonnes (mt) of oil and oil equivalent in this year. OVL achieved the highest ever production of 8.87 mt in 2009-10.

“Till January 2011, our production is 7.87 mt. It is our endeavour to raise our output to 9 mt this (financial) year,” said a senior OVL official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Aging oil fields have had their impact on OVL’s output performance. Declining output at decades-old fields is the primary cause for production not picking up, the official quoted above added.

The company touched peak output of 80,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from BC-10 asset in Brazil, that has an acreage of 600 sq km. At present, 61,000-62,000 bpd is drilled every day. OVL’s share of oil production was 0.192 mt during 2009-10 against a target of 0.103 mt from BC-10.

Natural gas production from Myanmar fields will start by 2012-13, said the official, while the Lan Do field in block 06.1 of Vietnam is under development and expected to commence commercial production in 2012. The government-run explorer has spent $230 million for the project as of March 31, 2010.

The Lan Tay field in the same block in Vietnam came on-stream in 2003. In the previous financial year, OVL’s share after pumping out gas was 1.967 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas against 1.848 bcm in the previous year. The Sakhalin-1 block in Russia is one of the most prolific blocks in OVL’s kitty. In 2009-10, OVL’s share of production from it was 1.532 mt of oil and 0.390 bcm of gas.