ONGC and bp Expand Technical Partnership to Boost Production from India’s Western Offshore Basin
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and bp have strengthened their long-standing partnership by signing a new Technical Services Contract (TSP) aimed at enhancing hydrocarbon production from ONGC’s fields in the Western Offshore Basin. The agreement, signed on 25 June 2026, represents a significant milestone in India’s efforts to maximize domestic oil and gas production while reinforcing the nation’s energy security.
The contract was signed in the presence of the Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dr. Neeraj Mittal. Under the agreement, bp has been appointed as the Technical Services Provider (TSP) for ONGC’s extensive portfolio of producing assets in the Western Offshore Basin, building upon the companies’ successful collaboration at the iconic Mumbai High field.
The latest agreement reflects ONGC’s continued commitment to leveraging international technical expertise and advanced technologies to improve production from mature oil and gas fields. As India’s National Oil Company, ONGC remains at the center of the country’s energy sector, contributing nearly 64 percent of India’s domestic crude oil and natural gas production. The company plays a vital role in reducing import dependence and ensuring reliable energy supplies for the nation’s rapidly growing economy.
The Western Offshore Basin is ONGC’s largest and most productive hydrocarbon basin. Comprising 43 producing blocks, the basin has been a cornerstone of India’s oil and gas industry for more than four decades. Since commercial production began, these offshore assets have supplied substantial volumes of crude oil and natural gas, helping to meet the country’s rising energy demand while supporting industrial growth and economic development.
With many of these producing fields now considered mature, maintaining production levels requires sophisticated reservoir management, continuous monitoring, and the application of advanced recovery techniques. The new partnership with bp is designed to address these challenges by combining ONGC’s operational experience with bp’s global technical capabilities and extensive expertise in managing complex offshore assets.
The agreement significantly broadens the scope of cooperation between the two companies. Following the Technical Services Provider contract for Mumbai High, the collaboration will now extend across ONGC’s fields throughout the Western Offshore Basin. This expansion enables the wider deployment of advanced technologies, innovative production optimization methods, and internationally recognized operational best practices across one of India’s most strategically important energy-producing regions.
Despite bp’s expanded technical role, ONGC will retain complete ownership of all assets as well as full operational control over field activities. The partnership is structured as a technical collaboration rather than an equity participation or production-sharing arrangement. This ensures that ONGC continues to direct operations while benefiting from bp’s specialized knowledge and global experience in reservoir optimization and production enhancement.
Under the contract, bp will work closely alongside ONGC’s multidisciplinary teams, including reservoir engineers, geologists, production specialists, drilling experts, and facility management professionals. Together, the teams will evaluate opportunities to improve field performance through detailed reservoir studies, enhanced surveillance systems, well optimization programs, and improved production facility management.
A key objective of the collaboration is to moderate the natural production decline that typically occurs in mature oil and gas fields. Over time, reservoir pressure decreases and production rates gradually decline, making efficient recovery increasingly challenging. Through advanced reservoir modeling, data analytics, digital monitoring tools, and optimized production strategies, the two companies aim to extract additional hydrocarbons while improving operational efficiency and extending the productive life of existing assets.
The partnership will also focus on identifying opportunities to improve hydrocarbon recovery rates, reduce production bottlenecks, optimize existing infrastructure, and enhance overall asset reliability. These measures are expected to contribute to sustained production growth while maximizing value from existing offshore investments.
The commercial framework of the agreement has been designed to align incentives for both organizations. During the first two years of the contract, bp will receive a fixed service fee for providing technical expertise and support. After this initial period, compensation will transition to a performance-linked model under which bp will earn a service fee based on a percentage share of the revenue generated from net incremental hydrocarbon production. This structure encourages continuous performance improvements while ensuring that compensation is tied directly to measurable production gains.
The new contract builds upon the encouraging results achieved under the Technical Services Contract signed by ONGC and bp for Mumbai High in February 2025. During the first year of that collaboration, the companies successfully implemented a range of production optimization initiatives that helped moderate natural production decline and deliver measurable output growth.
Those achievements were driven through optimization of existing wells, improved reservoir surveillance, enhanced data analysis, and targeted interventions in reservoir management, well operations, and production facilities. The positive outcomes demonstrated the effectiveness of combining ONGC’s deep operational knowledge with bp’s international technical expertise, providing confidence for expanding the partnership across additional offshore assets.
Speaking on the expanded collaboration, ONGC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Shri Arun Kumar Singh highlighted the importance of continuing the successful partnership.
“Building on the encouraging outcomes at Mumbai High, this expanded collaboration will support improved recovery, greater efficiency and sustained production growth,” he said.
His remarks underscore ONGC’s broader strategy of improving productivity from mature fields while strengthening domestic energy production through technology-driven solutions.
bp India Chairman and bp Senior Vice President Shri Kartikeya Dube also emphasized the strategic significance of the agreement.
“We look forward to bringing bp’s global expertise to support enhanced production from the Western Offshore Basin and strengthen India’s energy security,” he said.
The partnership aligns with India’s broader objective of increasing domestic oil and gas production to meet growing energy demand while reducing reliance on imported hydrocarbons. As the country continues to experience rapid economic expansion and industrialization, improving production from existing offshore assets remains an important component of its long-term energy strategy.
By combining ONGC’s decades of operational excellence with bp’s advanced technical capabilities, the expanded Technical Services Contract is expected to unlock additional production potential from the Western Offshore Basin. The collaboration not only seeks to enhance hydrocarbon recovery and operational efficiency but also reinforces the role of strategic partnerships in supporting India’s pursuit of greater energy security and sustainable resource development for the years ahead.
Source Link: https://ongcindia.com/
