In news
The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas dedicated an oil and gas producing field in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal to the nation.
About oil and gas producing field
- The Oil reserve is located in Ashoknagar about 47 km from Kolkata
- The Ashoknagar field, which falls under the Mahanadi-Bengal-Andaman (MBA) basin, has been proved to be commercially viable
- The crude oil discovered at the Ashoknagar reserve is of high quality.
- Production from the petroleum reserve here has started with extracted oil being sent to Haldia refinery of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
- ONGC had spent Rs 3,381 crore for discovery of the Ashoknagar oilfield
- According to the Minister, this would be the eighth hydrocarbon producing basin of India, and ONGC took “a step by commencing oil production under the early monetisation plan of the government”.
- The government has allowed companies to monetise oil and gas discoveries without undergoing the time-consuming procedure of government approvals for field development plans and other bureaucratic processes.
- The first proven reserve of oil and gas in the state was discovered in 2018.
Other oil fields in India
One-shore oil fields are located in the Brahmaputra valley of north-east India, Gujarat coast in western India and Cauvery on-shore basin in Tamil Nadu. Besides Andhra Pradesh has both on-shore and off-shore oil reserves.
Oil fields in Assam: The Digboi field, The Naharkatiya field, The Moran-Hugrijan field
Oil fields in Gujarat: Ankleshwar, Khambhat or Lunej field, Ahmedabad and Kalol field
Western Coast Off-Shore Oil Fields: Mumbai high, Bassein, Aliabet
East Coast: The basin and delta regions of the Godawari, the Krishna and the Cauvery rivers hold great potential for oil and gas production