ONGC resumes drilling in West Bengal

After a gap of eight years, state-owned explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has resumed drilling in West Bengal and the company would take up drilling of 11 exploratory wells.

"We have resumed drilling in Bengal a few days back at Ladhi near Malda. We have identified another area at Daulatpur in the northern part of the state", ONGC sources told PTI here.

At present, the company has one rig in the state and another rig is expected shortly, sources said, adding that drilling of each well would cost around Rs 40 crore on an average.

OIL would share 25 per cent cost while remaining 75 per cent would be borne by ONGC, they said.

Of the eleven wells, five would be taken up in partnership with Oil India Ltd.

The company has planned to complete the drilling of these wells by June 2015, they added.

Asked about the possibility of finding oil or gas in the current round of drilling, the source said, "Bengal is a geological puzzle to us. The company has drilled 60 wells in the state in the past 50 years which involved expenditure of about Rs 700 crore but no positive result has been found. ONGC had taken up drilling in the state last time in 2004-05".

The sources said that based on the findings of the drilling, the company would take a decision regarding further drilling in the state.

"Oil exploration is a never-ending operation. We will take a re-look at Bengal after June 2015 when the drilling operation of the 11 wells in the state would be over", the source added.