New Delhi, Apr 9 (IANS): State-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Sunday announced the achieving of a landmark in its $5.07 billion oil and gas project in the Krishna Godavari (BG) basin eastern offshore by spudding the first of the 34 wells, saying the first gas is slated for marketing by end-2019, and of the oil by 2020.A

An ONGC statement here said well KDG-A on the KG-DWN-98/2, or KG-D5 block, in the Bay of Bengal was spud from the drillship Platinum Explorer, 35 km off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

"The well KDG-A is one of the 34 wells planned under this mega project. The deepwater well has a target depth of 2,346 meters, under a water depth of 518 meters. The well is expected to produce around 5,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) when put to production," it said.

The project will overall produce around 25 million tonnes of oil and 45 billion cubic meters of gas with peak production of 78,000 barrels per day of oil and 15 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) of gas.

"ONGC expects to bring first gas from this project to market by 2019 end and oil by 2020," the company said.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan flagged off the project at location on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, he emphasised the central government's strong commitment towards Andhra Pradesh, which is emerging as a major oil and gas hub of India.

"It is our endeavour to make these major investments in oil and gas sector bring prosperity to the people of Andhra Pradesh," he said.

According to ONGC, the project KG DWN 98/2 involves some of the most advanced oil field technologies in drilling and completion of 34 sub-sea wells, laying about 425 km of pipeline and "150 km of control umbilical in water depths varying from 300 to 1,400 meters."

There will be an offshore process platform for processing and evacuating 6.5 mscmd of gas. The balance 5.75 mscmd will be transported through ONGC's existing sub-sea infrastructure and facilities, created at the onshore terminal of Odalarevu at Andhra coast.

"Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO) will also be deployed in water depth of 413 meters to process the oil and gas," the statement said.

The project envisages capital expenditure of $5.07 billion and operating expenditures of $5.12 billion over a field life of 16 years, it added.