The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, on Sunday, dedicated the Bengal Basin at Asokenagar in West Bengal, to the nation to ramp up its energy needs.

Formal production commenced with Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel switching on the Sucker Rod Pump (SRP) amidst a select gathering of senior officials.

ONGC took a major step by commencing oil production from the well. The well was completed under Early-Monetization Plan issued by the Centre.

Having discovered and put to production seven out of the eight producing basins in India, ONGC covers 83 per cent of established oil and gas reserves, said a press statement by the company.

ONGC is the country’s largest oil and gas producer contributing 72 per cent of the country’s hydrocarbon production.

Pradhan said the Asokenagar discovery will play a role for India’s energy security and would definitely add to the Modi government’s clarion call for reducing oil import dependence.

Bengal Basin is spread across nearly 1.22 lakh square km, with nearly two-thirds of it falling under the waters of the Bay of Bengal. ONGC has invested close to ₹3,361 crore to explore hydrocarbon in the basin so far and is likely to spend around ₹425 crore on exploration activities in the basin in the next two years.

The well Asokenagar-1 has heralded the end of painstaking search for hydrocarbons in the region by ONGC by sending its first hydrocarbon consignment produced during well testing to IOCL’s Haldia Oil Refinery done earlier on November 5, 2020.

“Re-energized by this discovery and eager to script more success stories in the newly awarded OALP acreages in the Bengal Basin, ONGC has already set aside a sling of fresh geoscientific activities. These comprise appraisal programme of Asokenagar discovery for an area of about 739 sq. km. including 3D seismic, Low Frequency Passive Seismic (LFPS) Survey and drilling of two wells, besides acquiring roughly 1300 LKM of 2D, 2900 SKM of 3D and drilling of 13 wells in the next three years in the newly awarded acreages,” the release said.