ONGC applies for mining license to discover oil fields in Samastipur, Buxar

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), citing possibility of crude oil fields in Buxar and Samastipur districts of Bihar, has applied for the petroleum exploration license before the state government.

As per officials, the state mining department has initiated the process to provide a license to the company for digging in these two districts.

Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, additional chief secretary cum commissioner of mining department said: "ONGC has filed the application for open area mining and we have initiated the process to provide a license. The company has also deposited fees along with initial survey reports of these two districts for the license."

"Under the provision of the mining department, we will provide a license for 4 years. There would also be a provision of extending it further," she said.

ONGC claimed 308.32 square km area of Ganga basin in Samastipur district and 52.1 square km area in the basin of Ganga river Buxar district "may have" oil fields.

"We have informed the administrative officials of both the districts," she said.

If ONGC would obtain the license for mining, it would initiate the process of analyzing the gravitational force and magnetic force of the surveyed areas using earthquake data recording techniques. If the results come positive, the discovery of crude oil will start soon.

Earlier in 2017-2018 also, ONGC had hinted about possibility of oil fields in Siwan, Purnea and Buxar districts. The company had installed a camp in Simri village and dug the soil in the basin of Ganga river Rajpur Kalan Panchayat and Raghunathpur. The samples were sent to a testing lab in Hyderabad, however it did not continued the exploration.