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It may be noted, the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal has earlier granted an interim injunction restraining ONGC and GAIL from going ahead with a methane gas project in Thanjavur and Thiruvarur districts and later lifted the stay following the company's clarfication.
Reacting to some of the local farmers' apprehensions and NGOs agitation which claims that ground water is affected and damages structures, A K Dwivedi, director - exploration, ONGC said company's seismic surveys are meant for acquiring data for Oil & Gas exploration. These are not at all related to any methane (CBM) gas extraction.
"These survey activities neither cause damage to any structures nor affect any ground water resources," he said.
He added the company no where in the country is exploring CBM since yield are less and number of wells to be drilled are high.
On Shale Gas, he said, the company does not have any on-going shale gas project in Tamil Nadu.
He said their is no policy announced by the State or Centre Governments on Shale Gase so be it ONGC or no company can explore Shale Gas.
Dwivedi said the company is doing only R&D efforts for exploring and assessing the potential of Shale Gas in the sedimentary operations basins under its operation.
According to him, in mature markets like US it took over three decades to explore Shale Gas. The company decided to start R&D in Shale Gas since it takes long time.
At Cauvery Basin, one location has been identified in Kuthalam area for preliminary investigation and the company yet to receive Environment Clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change for drilling this location.
ONGC has been exploring in Tamil Nadu for over 50 years now and established 31 oil and gas fields which are producing 700 tonnes of oil per day and about 3.8 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
The natural gas presently being produced by the company contributes to the generation of 650-700 mega watt of power in the state.
During the last five years ONGC has contributed to Tamilnadu State's exchequer a total of Rs 1,768 crore as Royalty and VAT/ sales tax.
The exploration activities in the region has created apprehension in the mind of farmers and the local people that the company might engage in methane gas production and destroy the environment to a large extend, which would affect the ecosystem and livelihood of the farmers in the region, which is currently known for its fertility.
A petition was earlier filed in the National Green Tribunal by P R Pandian, general secretary, Tamizhaga Cauvery Farmers Association, seeking the Tribunal's intervention on the alleged exploration activities of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd in the Cauvery Delta Basin, in Thanjavur and Thiruvarur districts, which are the agricultural areas in the State.
