OIL interested in picking up petroleum mining lease in Jaisalmer, Bikaner

Oil India Limited (OIL) is interested in picking up a petroleum mining lease (PML) in an area spread over 67 square kilometres (sq. km) in Jaisalmer and Bikaner under the Discovered Small Field policy, a senior state government official has said.
 

“A proposal in this regard has been submitted to the state government and action will be taken soon,” said Subodh Agarwal, additional chief secretary, mines and petroleum, Rajasthan, after meeting OIL Chairman and Managing Director Ranjeet Rath in Jaipur recently.
 

OIL produces heavy oil and natural gas at Tanot Dandewala and Baghewala in the state, and is exploring PML for five more locations in the state.
 

There are four petroliferous basins in an area of 150,000 sq km in the state. Agarwal said that OIL and ONGC are producing petroleum and natural gas — they hold 11 PMLs — and under the exploration licence, Vedanta, ONGC, and OIL are doing the exploration work.
 

The official requested OIL to begin new work in the renewable energy sector, saying there was scope in the field of solar and wind energy in the state and requested it to invest in green energy.
 

According to OIL’s website, the company has selectively diversified in the renewable & alternate energy sector, installing and commissioning RE projects in the wind and solar domains with a total installed capacity of 188.10 Megawatt (Mw) comprising 174.10 Mw of wind energy projects, and 14 Mw of solar energy projects.

OIL produces 0.49 million cubic metres of natural gas every day in the Tanot Dandewala area, and 338 barrels of heavy oil per day in Baghewala. Oil and gas exploration is going on in Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Ganganagar.

The firm plans to invest Rs 663 crore by 2025 in mining and exploration in the state, of which Rs 130 crore have been invested so far. OIL is a fully integrated exploration and production company in the upstream sector.