OIL signs MoU with University of Houston to enhance prodn

The Dollar Business Bureau

With an intent to enhance its reserves base and maximise recovery from its aging oilfields, state-run Oil India Limited (OIL), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Houston (US), a leading university on oil and gas in the world.

The MoU was inked in the presence of Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Terming the MoU as historic, Pradhan said that this minor event will put huge impact in the oil exploration sector. Innovation, institutional hand-holding and scientific temperament is the way ahead for oil and gas sector’s growth.

“India is third largest country in the world in energy consumption but it is dependent on imports to meet its demand of crude oil. The country is an aspirational society, which is bound to grow and progress very fast. The import-centric mechanism cannot help in meeting the challenges,” he added.

The Minister further said that an ecosystem has to be formed so that innovations, reforms and improvements are ushered in. If there is good strategy, innovative technology and willpower, a good ecosystem can be formed that will help in more oil recovery from the oilfields.”

The major focus of the MoU is collaboration in the areas of Improved Oil Recovery and Enhanced Oil Recovery for augmenting the production from matured fields, improvement in drilling and well intervention practices, seismic interpretation and reservoir characterisation studies, and unconventional hydrocarbon studies.

It is believed that this collaboration will support OIL to further upgrade and consolidate the various initiatives undertaken by the organisation to enhance production and contribute considerably to the country’s energy security. The association will also help in meeting the national obligation as set by the Prime Minister to reduce dependency on imports of oil and gas by 10 percent by 2022.