NEW DELHI, MARCH 17 (DNA): After a 13-year hiatus, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is all set to start oil exploration and production operations in Nagaland. The country’s largest crude oil producer has signed a petroleum mining lease with the Nagaland government.
ONGC sources said with this the company will start exploration and production activities in Changpang area of Nagaland. The company will also be now holding a valid petroleum mining lease for the Changpang field, situated in the Lower Lotha range, after a long 13-year battle. The field is a proven one in the Assam-Arakan basin and will be managed by ONGC’s Assam office.
An MoU will be signed with the government of Nagaland in the next few weeks, said sources. ONGC’s operations in the area have been suspended since April 1994.
Officials said the Changpang area was an extension of the Barholla producing field in Assam and has good potential.
ONGC is going ahead with a major investment plan to revamp its production facilities in Assam to step up the production from its ageing /R fields from the current level of 1.4 million tonne to 2.5 million tonne in the next three to four years.
ONGC started survey works as early as 1963 in the Changpang area. A discovery was also made with trial production in March 1981. The Nagaland government, however, stopped all activities in May 1994 due to dispute over payment. Besides, ONGC also faced law and order problems.
Nagaland is estimated to have 600 million tonnes of proven reserve of crude oil. ONGC has drilled 25 exploratory and 11 development wells since 1973 with production reaching 250 tonnes at Changpang.
