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Main Street in Baroda, Gujarat State, India

Don Prior went to India as General Manager-India Operations for Niko Resources Ltd. out of Calgary. In this position Don Prior was responsible for Niko's operations in India in regards to their five fields obtained from the Government of India. 

The five fields are all located on the west coast in Gujarat State. The Gujarat State government is participating in these fields as a joint venture partner through GSPC (Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation).

In the role of General Manager - India Operations, Don Prior was also General Manager of the Joint Venture between Niko Resources and GSPC.

The primary role for Niko Resources during the two years of Mr. Prior's contract was to develop the 1.2 tcf reserve Hazira gas field. This entailed the building of a causeway 1.5 kilometers into the Gulf of Kambaht, the building of a drilling platform on the end of the causeway and the drilling of the first eight wells on the platform. This was accomplished with the additional wells going on stream in early 2001.

Drilling on LBDP, Hazira Field

Production in the field was increased from approximately 3.0 mmcfd to over 12 mmcfd from this field development work. Additional work currently being carried out will again increase the production to well over 100 mmcfd. This will require an additional offshore platform and another eight wells on the current land based drilling platform (LBDP).

The current market for the  Hazira field gas is Gujarat Gas Company Limited (GGCL) and Essar Steel. GGCL takes gas from a 18 inch gas connection at the Niko gas plant facility and Essar takes gas from a 36 inch sales line. Additional customers are planned as the gas availability is increased through additional development drilling.

Well heads on LBDP

One of the key objectives of the two year contract with Niko was to re-establish good business relations with the Gujarat State Government through GSPC and the Government of India through their regulatory agency, the Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). This objective was met with public acknowledgement of Niko Resources as a model Production Sharing Contract partner by both DGH and GSPC.

LBDP causeway after a severe storm

Niko's goals in India for the General Manager- India Operations included increasing communications with the head office through electronic mail, increasing the accounting functions by instigating a new accounting department, increasing gas production with additional wells in the Hazira field, increased oil production from the Bhandut and Cambay fields, evaluation of the Sabarmati Field and evaluation of the Matar Field. All these objectives were met with various degrees of success. 

The production of the Bhandut Field did not increase after working over the wells and a new work over recipe was designed. The work over of the Cambay wells is proceeding with limited results but with considerable potential. The Sabarmati Field was proved non productive as was the Matar Field.

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