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‘ONGC is in no way linked to the proposed hydrocarbon project at Neduvasal’
ONGC has no further role with the proposed hydrocarbon extraction project at Neduvasal and its surrounding villages in Pudukkottai district, said top officials from ONGC based in Karaikal. They further said that it was up to the Union government to decide whether the project would be implemented along with private players or be scrapped once and for all. The officials told reporters in Trichy that since the state government had not given approval for the project, it would be impossible to proceed further.
Stating that several misconceptions are being spread, linking ONGC with the proposed hydrocarbon extraction project at Neduvasal, executive director for assets, manager of Cauvery asset, Kulbir Singh, and group general manager of Cauvery basin Pawan Kumar, addressed the media jointly to counter the spread of unwarranted rumours and fears, here on Thursday.
Under the Discovered Small Field (DSF) bid round 2016, Government of India had awarded 31 contract areas to various companies. However, ONGC is not an awardee under DSF 2016 in Tamil Nadu, said Pawan Kumar.
“In 1993, 2008 and 2009, ONGC tested 13 wells in and around Neduvasal for exploration purposes. However, out of 13 wells 10 had been abandoned due to non-availability of oil or gas sources and gradually all the acquired land was returned to farmers in their original condition. Meanwhile, the remaining three wells (Nallandarkollai, Kottaikadu and Pullanviduthi) were being considered for production purposes. However, it came to light that the project would not be financially viable. Thus, ONGC decided not to execute the project,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Union government decided to handover the project to any private player in such a way to make use of the wells, he further stated. “Only five acres of land are with the possession of ONGC where the three wells are there as of now. So, it is up to the Centre to decide whether the project would be continued or not,” he further clarified.
ONGC was neither carrying out nor does it have plans to carry out exploration of shale gas, shale oil or coal bed methane in the Cauvery basis, said Kulbir Singh. Moreover, the state government itself had banned both exploration projects, he added.
There are no pending due to farmers for leasing of lands till now. Moreover, ONGC had restored all the lands acquired for exploratory purposes to a near original condition, as per the guidelines to enable farmers to cultivate again, officials said.
In order to create awareness among the farmers and general public about the actual process involved in the extraction of natural oil and gas executed by ONGC, the corporation has planned to organize street plays and jingle shows, officials said. CM Punk Womens Jersey
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