Ongc Hopeful Of Oil Strike In South Bengal

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is hopeful of striking oil in the Ichhapur well in the Nadia district of South Bengal, ONGC chairman B C Bora said here on Wednesday

Drilling operations in the well, which had yielded traces of oil during incomplete testing in 1994, have been going on for the last three months.

The target drilling depth is 4,400 metres, though the most prospective zone is at around 4,300 metres. The drilling personnel are 265 metres away from this target, which they expect to reach in another 21 days.

"We are going 100 meters away from the original well by cutting a window at the 3,000 metre depth of the old well," said Bora.

Bora said on-shore exploration in Cambay, Krishna-Godavari, Assam or Tripura may not offer prospects of any major discovery.

The drilling activities in the Bengal basin had been suspended for over two years as ONGC decided to take up fresh drilling re-examining existing seismological and 3-D data.

If the well produces results, a few more wells will be drilled around Ichhapur to ascertain the size of the reserve, Bora said.

Bora said the ONGC is incurring a cost of Rs 10 crore to develop the Ichhapur well, which would be considered commercially exploitable if recoverable reserves allow 100 barrels to be produced daily for at least five years.

Bora said oil production had been declining in the last few years owing to the absence of major new discoveries.

In 1997-98, production declined to 28.25 million tonnes as compared to 28.8 million tonnes in 1996-97. The 1998-99 target has been set at 28.1 million tonnes. "Unless there are major discoveries, the reserve replacement will not be adequate," he said.

The corporation is now targeting deep sea water exploration. Drilling operations will begin in a deep water well off the Tamil Nadu coast in the Cauvery basin in the next few days. The 3,000 metre well will be drilled from the seabed to about 700 metres below sea level.

Two well sites have been identified in the Krishna-Godavari basin and one in the Kerala-Konkan basin.