BALASORE:The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited on Wednesday initiated procedures to conduct a two-dimensional (2D) survey of all unapprised sedimentary basins for establishment of potential natural gas resources in Odisha.
Considered the first onshore seismic survey in the State, the National Seismic Programme (NSP) was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan at Taranga village in Balasore district. The NSP aims to undertake a fresh appraisal in all sedimentary basins across the country, especially where no or scanty data is available, for a better understanding of the hydrocarbon potential.
Oil India Limited (OIL) and ONGC have been entrusted with conducting the high-resolution 2D seismic Acquisition, Processing and Interpretation (API) under this programme across India. The API project is expected to be completed by March, 2019. While ONGC has been assigned to carry out the seismic API of 40,835 Line Kilo Metre (LKM) in onland part of 26 sedimentary basins, including Mahanadi basin, in 18 states and Union Territory, OIL has been assigned to carry out the survey of 74,08 LKM in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.
Pradhan said the ONGC would explore the gas reserves in Odisha, which would be approximately Rs 10,000 crore. “Since the cost of production is more, new cutting edge modern technology is being used to make it cost-effective,” he said.
Mahanadi basin has been chosen as the first location for rolling out the NSP. The 2D seismic survey of un-apprised area in Mahanadi basin (onland) would establish potential of hydrocarbon resources in the state.
In this basin, Bhadrak-Jajpur area of about 2189 LKM and Chilika lake area of about 341 LKM have been identified covering primarily Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts. The acquisition stage is scheduled from October 2016 to June 2018 while processing and interpretation are scheduled from July 2018 to December 2018.
The outcome from the NSP would contribute to better understanding of the sub-surface with petroleum systems across wider geological ages to explore the hydrocarbon reserves in Odisha. The total investment for seismic acquisition in the onland Mahanadi Basin is Rs 79.57 crore. The Minister expressed confidence that once hydrocarbon potential of Odisha is established through these initiatives, it would lead to Exploration and Production (E&P) activities and attract significant investment to the sector generating employment opportunity and bringing prosperity to the State. “Work has also been started for the 2,500 km gas pipeline project worth Rs 13,000 crore. The pipeline would be laid from Uttar Pradesh to Dhamra. Besides, the Rs 6,000 crore liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Dhamra is also on the anvil,” he added.
Among others, Minister for Steel and Mines Prafulla Kumar Mallick, CMD of ONGC Dinesh K Saraf and other senior officials of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry were present.
