ONGC makes four more oil field discoveries in Ashoknagar

New Delhi: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has made four more discoveries since it first made an oil field near Ashoknagar in West Bengal six years back, but is still awaiting the state government’s approval for a petroleum mining lease to develop them, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

ONGC notified the first Ashoknagar discovery in Block WB-ONN-2005/4 on September 24, 2018, Puri said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

The discovery, he said was the outcome of continuous exploration efforts of ONGC in the Bengal sedimentary basin over five decades.

As per initial laboratory studies, crude oil, which is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel, discovered in the Ashoknagar discovery is a light variety with American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity of 40-41 degrees and is almost similar to Bombay High and Brent Crude.

“ONGC, accordingly, applied on September 10, 2020, to the Government of West Bengal for a grant of Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) for an area of 5.88 square kilometres (sq km) in North 24 Parganas District for the early monetisation of Ashoknagar-1 discovery under Early Development Plan (EDP),” the minister said.

A month later, the central government also recommended the state government for a grant of PML.

“The grant of this PML is still awaited from the state government of West Bengal,” he said.

Under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 1959, the state governments are empowered to grant PML with the prior recommendation of the central government.

“As the PML was awaited from the state government, EDP could not be implemented thereby affecting production of oil and gas,” Puri said.

However, ONGC continued appraisal/exploratory drilling activities and established the presence of hydrocarbon in other wells namely Ashoknagar-2, Kankpul-1, Bhurkunda-1 and Ranaghat-2, thus, enhancing the hydrocarbon prospectivity around Ashoknagar-1 discovery in New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) Block WB-ONN-2005/4.

“Based on the latest data availability and analysis, an area of 99.06 sq km with more than four discoveries has been carved out into an Integrated Field Development Plan (FDP) which also includes an EDP area of 5.88 sq km for developing oil and gas discovery of Ashoknagar-1.

This integrated FDP has been approved by the Government of India (GoI) on July 10, 2024,” he said.

The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas further said the recommendation letter for the issuance of PML by the Government of West Bengal was sent on October 29, 2024.

“PML application for the approved area of FDP (99.06 sq km) was submitted by ONGC on November 5, 2024, to the Government of West Bengal,” he said.

The minister said the power to grant PML for Ashoknagar oil field lies with the Government of West Bengal.