Guwahati: Exploration for crude oil and natural gas in the northern bank of Brahmaputra in Assam will commence soon with the state government entering into an agreement with Oil India Ltd (OIL), an official statement said on Friday. The Assam government signed petroleum exploration license (PEL) deeds of two open acreage licensing policy (OALP) blocks with the PSU on Thursday, it added.
Ananda Kumar Das, the joint secretary and director (geology and mining) of the state government, and OIL executive director (frontier basin) JPP Das signed the agreement.
The statement said that it is for the first time that exploration for crude oil and natural gas will be done on the northern bank of Brahmaputra in the lower Assam region. OIL will invest around Rs 12 crore in the projects, and will start the seismic survey this month itself, the statement said.
The area under block AS-ONHP-2021/2, measuring 2445.30 square kilometres, falls in the districts of Barpeta, Nalbari, Baksa and Kamrup, whereas block AS-ONHP-2021/3, measuring 1840.87 square kilometres, is spread across Udalguri, Kamrup and Darrang.
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