Oil India To Drill Exploratory and Appraisal Wells in Assam Block

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--India's state-owned oil company Oil India Limited (OIL) (BSE:533106) (Noida, Uttar Pradesh) is set to undertake exploratory drilling at "AA-ONN--2002/3" block in Assam. OIL intends to drill five onshore exploratory and appraisal wells in the districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao in the state.

The block was awarded to Oil India by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) (New Delhi) in the fourth round of bidding, under the country's New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) was signed in April 2004. Oil India has 70% participating interest in the block while the remaining 30% lies with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (BSE: 500312) (ONGC) (Dehradun, Uttarakhand). The Block is spread over an area of 1,095 square kilometers. The cost of the drilling project has been estimated at $16 million. OIL has already acquired environmental clearance for the drilling work from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) (New Delhi).

The fourth round of bidding under NELP was initiated in May 2003. A total of 24 blocks were offered in this round. Out of these, one block is a shallow water block, 12 are deepwater offshore, and the remaining 11 are on-land blocks.

According to Oil India, the project would involve water-based Mud Drilling. The drilling depth of the wells is likely to vary from 2,000 meters to 2,500 meters. The exploratory work would involve site preparation, well foundation, rig building, drilling, and the restoration of the well site.

The total water requirement for the project has been estimated to be 25 cubic meters per day, per well. Four Diesel Generator (DG) sets of 750 kilovolt ampere (kVA) each, running on diesel will be installed to meet the power requirement for the drilling project. Total wastewater generation will be around 3.5 cubic meter per day per well.

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