Team News Riveting
Kolkata, December 20
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Sunday opened India’s eighth hydrocarbon producing basin.
ONGC took a major step by commencing oil production from the well Asokenagar-1, Bengal Basin in 24 Paragana district. The well Asoknagar-1 was completed as an oil producer under Early-Monetization Plan issued by Government of India. This makes ONGC having discovered and put to production seven out of the eight producing basins of India covering 83 percent of established oil and gas reserves.
ONGC is India’s largest oil and gas producer contributing 72 percent of the country’s hydrocarbon production. The well Asokenagar-1 has heralded the end of painstaking search for hydrocarbons in the region by ONGC by sending its first hydrocarbon consignment produced during well testing to IOCL’s Haldia Oil Refinery done earlier on 5 November 2020.
The Bengal basin is spread across nearly 1.22 lakh square kilometres, with nearly two-third of it falling under the waters of the Bay of Bengal.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan dedicated the new basin to the nation. Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan congratulated ONGC said the discovery would play a role for India’s energy security.
With this discovery, around seven decades of relentless endeavours by scientists and engineers of India have borne fruits, giving a new hope for robust development of West Bengal, he said.
He said the government was committed to fully supporting ONGC to make this a turning point in its strive to bring more oil and gas from the subsurface of West Bengal and help to bring a new phase of prosperity for the state and its people along-with local employment.
