ONGC is set to invest Rs 440 crore in drilling of 40 oil and gas wells in the Krishna-Godavari basin next fiscal, a senior official of the company said today.

The drilling will be taken up in the next financial year as this year the oil and gas major has already taken up around 14 wells for drilling, the official said.

“The proposal for development drilling of 40 wells is with the Ministry of Environment and Forests for clearances. This year we have already taken up enough work (drilling of 14 wells). If the Environment Ministry asks us to go for public hearing we will go,” the official told PTI.

The onshore wells are located at East Godavari, West Godavari and Krishna Districts of Andhra Pradesh.

According to ONGC, there are two blocks with estimated reserves of 1,000 million metric tonnes of oil or oil equivalent gas in these three districts.

However, the quantity may up as the drilling is intensified.

Last year, ONGC held public hearing for exploring 24 new wells in the same Districts.

ONGC, which has 24 blocks in KG basin, produces approximately 840 tonnes of oil per day and 3.8 million metric standard cubic meters per day (mmscd) of gas from its onshore blocks.

“These wells are from the nominated block prior to New Exploration Licensing Policy come into being. Most of the Petroleum Exploratory Licence (PEL) in the nomination blocks will expire in 2013 and therefore we need to hasten the process,” the official explained.

ONGC had already applied for converting some of the PEL areas to mining leases, he added.

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