The Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, inaugurated the seismic survey campaign of Oil India (OIL) on November 21, 2020. The campaign was launched at Kakatpur, Odisha on land in the Mahanadi Basin.
Highlights
- The Seismic Survey Campaign was launched under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).
- The Survey will be done in 5 blocks of 8 districts of Odisha in and around the Mahanadi basin.
Seismic Survey Campaign
The campaign has been launched at an estimated cost of Rs 1,248 crores. Out of this, Rs 22o crores has been allocated for seismic survey.
Seismic Survey
It is a low impact method gathering the information regarding the location and characteristics of the geological structures. Under the survey, availability of the oil and gas is determined using the acoustic sound signals. These signals are transmitted to the earth surface and based on the returning signals, oil and gas availability is surveyed.
Why Oil India has been choosen?
- Oil India (OIL) had won all the five blocks for hydrocarbon exploration under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) in the II and III rounds.
- These five blocks are spread in 11 districts of Odisha namely, Puri, Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsingpur, Dhenkanal, Jaipur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Maurbhanj, Baleshore and Keonjhar.
What is the plan?
The company have plans to acquire, process and interpret 1,502 line kilometre (LKM) of 2D seismic data and 1,670 sq. km of 3D seismic data in the five blocks.
Mahanadi River
Mahanadi river is a major river in East Central India. The river drains an area of around 141,600 square kilometres. The total length of the river is 858 kilometres. This river is famous for the Hirakud Dam. It flows in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Mahanadi basin
Mahanadi Basin is the 8th largest basin in the country. It has a total catchment area of 139681.51 sq. km. The basin accounts for 4.28% of the total geographical area of the country. It receives about 90% of its rainfall during the monsoon season.
Oil India (OIL)
It is a state-owned Navratna company. The company runs under the administrative control of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, government of India. The Government of India has around 56.66% stake in the company, presently.
