New Delhi: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Friday inaugurated a seismic survey campaign of Oil India Limited (OIL), India’s second largest National Exploration and Production Company, at Mahanadi Basin in Puri’s Kakatpur.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said that the Rs 220-crore campaign would be a game-changer in the socio-economic development of Odisha.
“It’s a matter of great personal pride for me. This will be a major milestone in establishing Mahanadi as a hub of exploration and production operations as well as building hydrocarbon reserves in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Commercial production of oil and gas from Mahanadi basin will be a game-changer in the socio-economic development of Odisha,” Pradhan said.
According to Pradhan, it was only in 1980s when oil and gas activities started in Odisha.
“With new approach, state-of-the-art technology and Mahaprabhu Jagannath’s blessings, we’re confident that we’ll get success in the seismic campaign launched today [Friday] in Odisha”, he added.
Since 2014, the Centre has introduced a host of policy reforms in the hydrocarbon exploration and production sector, chief among them being the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Seismic data obtained under the National Seismic program in Odisha led to the detection of five blocks by DGH and OIL won all the five blocks for hydrocarbon exploration under OALP-II and III rounds.
“OIL plans to acquire, process and interpret 1,502 line km of 2D seismic data and 1,670 sqkm of 3D seismic data in the five blocks. Interpretation of the data is envisaged to lead to an extensive exploratory drilling campaign, in quest of establishing hydrocarbon reserves in line with the vision of PM’s Atmanirbhar Bharat,” the Ministry said.
The total envisaged expenditure on the exploration campaign in the five blocks in Mahanadi Basin (onshore) is Rs 1,248 crore of which Rs 220 crore is for seismic survey. The blocks are spread over 11 districts of Odisha— Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Maurbhanj and Keonjhar.