ONGC officers reject charges of water pollution in Cauvery basin
CHENNAI: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) has denied allegations of ground water contamination in the Thanjavur belt because of its exploration activities and said the containment of oil leak last week due to rupture in the pipeline in Kathiramangalam village in Thanjavur district was delayed by 10 hours as protesters refused entry to officials.
Kulbir Singh, executive director (asset manager) of ONGC along with T Rajendran, deputy general manager, Geology, and Basin Manager (Cauvery) told reporters that had it not been for the protesters, the leak, which happened at 8.30 am last Friday, would have been plugged within 10 to 15 minutes.
It was finally contained 10 hours later. A total of 15 cents of land was affected due to the leakage, ONGC officials said.
“We will be changing the pipe, which was laid seven to eight years ago. The damage is yet to be assessed. We have stopped operations. The oil well produces 50 to 60 tonnes of oil per day,” said Rajendran. Rejecting allegations that they intended exploring shale gas, a natural gas trapped in sedimentary formation, or coal bed methane, a form of natural gas extracted from coal, Rajendran said that they don’t have permission from the Centre to do so.