India’s Urja Bharat (UBPL), a 50-50 joint venture between IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum, has made an oil discovery in Abu Dhabi’s onshore Block 1, IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum announced on Tuesday.
Testing has confirmed the presence of oil resources in the XN-76 exploration well, drilled in 2024, as well as in the XN-79 02S exploration well. XN-76 was UBPL’s first discovery in the block’s unconventional Shailaf play, where hydrofracking yielded light crude. XN-79 02S, on its part, is UBPL’s first discovery in the Habshan reservoir, and will be appraised for potential development.
Block 1 covers 6,162 square kilometres and is 100% held by UBPL, which was awarded the concession in 2019. Following the award, the company has invested approximately USD 166 million in early exploration efforts.
In their announcement, IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum stated they are “very positive with the well results and look forward to further establishing the economic deliverability of wells during the appraisal phase.”
The companies are also taking steps towards the development of the Ruwais field and exploring other prospects within the concession area.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation is a state-owned oil and gas company in India engaged in refining, marketing and distribution of petroleum products. The company has interests in upstream exploration and production through its subsidiary Bharat PetroResources.
IndianOil is India’s largest state-owned oil and gas company. It holds upstream assets in India and abroad through subsidiaries and joint ventures, and operates in the midstream and downstream sectors through a portfolio of refining, petrochemicals, pipeline and fuel distribution assets.