Bihar

• 07 Jun 2022

ONGC approves exploration of petroleum reserves in two districts of Bihar

Why in News?

• On June 6, 2022, the Bihar government has approved petroleum exploration licence (PEL) to ONGC to assess the existence of oil reserves in Samastipur and Buxar districts of the state.

Key Points

• It may be recalled that ONGC had applied for a licence for exploration in both the blocks after getting information about oil reserves at Samastipur and Buxar in the Ganga basin.
• 308.32 sq km in Samastipur Oil in the field is to be discovered with state-of-the-art technology.  At the same time, 52.13 sq km of Buxar. Petroleum products will be discovered in the area.
• The first step will be to carry out a 2D seismic survey using the latest seismic data recording system. This will be followed by a geochemical survey using advanced technology. The surveys will be completed with gravitational magnetic and magneto-telluric (MT) surveys in the coming days.
• It is worth mentioning that oil reserves have been discovered in some parts of Bihar in the past, but no commercial success was achieved. However, this had helped to gather valuable geological information for further exploration.