Home Economy Assam groups oppose oil hunt on Brahmaputra river

Assam groups oppose oil hunt on Brahmaputra river

By IANS

Guwahati : An Indian oil company’s plan to try and look for oil on the bed of one of Asia’s largest rivers Brahmaputra has drawn flak from several groups in Assam who fear that it would be an environmental disaster.

The government-owned Oil India Limited (OIL) hopes to have a 2D seismic survey on the Brahmaputra before going ahead with possible exploration work to look for oil on the riverbed.

An influential youth group, the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) Thursday said oil operations would impact heavily on the river and damage the environment.

“The Brahmaputra is closely linked to the life and culture of Assam and its people. Any operation like exploration on the river’s bed will seriously affect the state’s ecosystem,” AJYCP leader Manoj Baruah said.

The AJYCP had organised a meeting Wednesday attended by 11 organisations representing student and farmers’ groups to discuss the matter in view of OIL’s plan to go for exploration on the river.

“This is a proven oil rich zone and we are confident of striking crude along the Brahmaputra,” OIL’s Chairman and Managing Director M.R. Pasrija had said recently.

OIL has launched an aggressive attempt to accelerate oil production in the country with a target to enhance output in Assam by at least one million tones.

The company produces about 3.2 million tonnes of crude in the state annually.

OIL has hired several foreign firms to revitalise ageing oilfields and carry out exploration works in new areas.

“We are using some new techniques like horizontal drilling and J-bend methods to augment oil production. These new techniques are expected to yield at least three times more oil than the conventional vertical drilling system,” An OIL official said.

Assam has over 1.3 billion tonnes of proven crude reserves and 156 billion cubic metres of natural gas reserves of which an estimated 58 percent of the hydrocarbon reserves are yet to be explored.

The state accounts for nearly 50 percent of India’s on-shore crude production and has the highest success ratio in the world with 70 percent of the exploration sites yielding oil.

The 2,906-km-long Brahmaputra traverses Tibet, India and Bangladesh before merging with the Ganges.