OIL finds heavy oil deposits in Rajasthan

Oil India Ltd has found 130 million tonnes of "heavy oil deposits" at Baghawala sandy desert area in Rajasthan's Barmer district.     

OIL is planning to dig 60 wells to locate the exact site of heavy oil, N K Bharali, General Manager (HR & BD), told reporters here.     

The company, which is working in the area for a decade has already dug three wells there, he said, adding experts from Venezuela will also join the exploration work.     

OIL got six blocks for gas or crude oil exploration in Jaisalmer under the New Exploration Licencing Policy (NELP), and the processing and interpretation work are underway, N K Agarwal, group manager (Audit) said.     

The company has spent Rs 100 crores on acquistion of data process on the six blocks, and is planning to undertake three new blocks (in addition to existing six), Agarwal said.     

On a question on whether a petro refinery in Barmer where CAIRN and ONGC started crude oil production is possible, Bharali said, "We are not competent to comment on others' work, but reviewing crude oil output, it is not an economic proposition to set up any refinery there".     

"There should be atleast nine million tonnes of crude oil production per year for any refinery. Barmer's present output would not match the refinery planning", Bharali said.