Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today signed an accord with Bihar government to explore hydrocarbons in four districts of the state.
After signing a memorandum of understanding with the company, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said ONGC would undertake hydrocarbon exploration afresh in a block PA-ONN-2004/1 (an area of 2537 square km) spread over the districts of Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj and Katihar at a cost of Rs 150 crore for eight years.
The company had carried out exploration work for oil and gas in this part of the state from early 1960s till late nineties and drilled three exploratory wells but no commercial discovery was made. It, however, helped in collecting valuable geological information for further exploration.
ONGC has been granted petroleum exploration licence under the new exploration policy of Government of India, Modi said, adding it would be given full support in carrying out the exploration work.
ONGC general manager A Biswas said the company has already applied for environmental clearance for seismic surveys to Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Biswas said initially 1,375 line km of two-dimensional seismic data would be used in this block that would help in better imaging for identifying suitable location for drilling wells.
He said based on the interpretation of the data collected, two wells would be drilled to a depth of 4000 and 4200 metres respectively. Major oil and gas deposits are expected in sediments of Gondwana age, Biswas added.
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