ONGC to intensify exploration in Tripura

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's Tripura unit would intensify exploration for supplying natural gas to Rs 5000-crore Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd in the state.

"A team of Tata Consultancy Services is now preparing the feasibility report to be submitted in December this year.

We are also intensifying exploration to supply gas to the project," ONGC group general manager Ved Prakash Mahawar said on Wednesday.

Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd is the strategic partner for the project in North Tripura district. It is ONGC s first urea fertiliser project.

Tripura has agreed to a 10 per cent stake in the project in addition to infrastructure, and water.

ONGC makes urea fertiliser with gas to be supplied from gas reserves in Khubal area of the district.

It was estimated that a commercial scale urea fertiliser plant having 1.3 MMTPA of urea capacity would utilise 2.4 MMSCMD of gas and entail an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

Mahawar said the striking rate and quality of gas in the state was the best in the world.

"We get gas in one well if we drill for two. It means that the striking rate is 50 per cent which is perhaps the highest in the world. Common ratio is 3:1. The quality of gas is also perhaps the best in the world," he said.

The ONGC which started exploration in the state since 1972 has drilled 176 wells of which 82 are gas bearing wells.

The Tripura asset was producing 3.95 million cubic metre gas per day which was likely to reach 6.35 million cubic meter in the next three years for supplying gas to the urea fertiliser factory and to the 726 MW Palatana power plant and 104 MW Monarchak power project in Tripura, Mahawar said.

President Pranab Mukherjee had inaugurated the gas based thermal power project at Palatana in Gomati district on June 21.

Generation was stopped for some days due to problems of supplying gas to the project because of technical faults which were repaired.

Gas was now being supplied to the project on a routine basis.

The project was likely to restore generation soon, Mahawar said.