ONGC finds oil, gas reserves in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has made oil and gas discoveries in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal that may potentially open up two new sedimentary basins in the country, the firm’s director for exploration has said.
ONGC had previously opened six out of India’s seven producing basins for commercial production. It is in the process of adding the eighth by putting Kutch offshore on the oil and gas map of India. “The seventh basin was opened way back in 1985. We are looking at adding three more basins in next five years time,” ONGC director (exploration) Ajay Kumar Dwivedi said. The firm has found gas deposits in a block in Vindhyan basin in Madhya Pradesh that is now being tested, he said.
ONGC has drilled four wells after the discovery and will now hydro-frack it by the end of the year to test commerciality of the finds. Similarly, an oil and gas discovery has been made in a well in Ashok Nagar of 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, he said adding that one lakh cubic meters per day of gas flowed from one object that was tested. Now, the firm would go for appraisal of the find, only after which commercially exploitable reserves could be established. Dwivedi said the firm is on the way to putting the Kutch offshore discovery to production. This would make Kutch India’s eighth sedimentary basin.
Cauvery was the last Category-I producing basin which was discovered in 1985. ONGC had made a significant natural gas discovery in the Gulf of Kutch off the west coast a few months back, which it plans to bring to production in 2-3 years, he said.
NEW DELHI: