SEDIMENTARY BASINS OF INDIA

The story of oil in India began in the dense jungles, swamps, damp
and undulated terrain of Brahmputra Valley, Assam in the middle
of 19th century. The first well was drilled by Mr.Goodenough of Mc
killop, Stewart and Co.; near Jaipur in Upper Assam in 1866
following a clue of oil show detected in the feet of an elephant
carrying logs. This was just seven years after the famous ‘Drake
Well’, which heralded the beginning of the Petroleum era, was
drilled in Titus Ville, Pennsylvania, USA (1859)

The following table shows a brief history in chronological order

1889 W.L.Lake of Assam Railway and Trading Co. (AR & T Co) started Digboi Well No-1
Lake used to urge his men “Dig boy, dig” and hence the name “Digboi” The discovery
of the ‘Digboi Oil field’ in Upper Assam was a landmark in the history of oil.

1899 AR&T Co formed a new company Assam Oil Company (AOC) and set up a small
refinery at Margharita (Upper Assam) with a capacity of 500 bopd to refine the
Digboi-oil.

1901 Digboi refinery commissioned.

1911 Burmah Oil Company (BOC) arrives on the Indian scene .

1921 Burmah Oil Company (BOC) takes over Assam Oil Company (AOC).

1925 India’s first attempt to use geophysics in its search for oil with a Torsion balance
survey in the Bordubi area.
1937-39 Seismic surveys were initiated in and a major ‘High’ was located at
Nahorkatiya in Assam The successful outcome of NHK-1 was a triumphant
vindication of the geophysical methods of exploration.

Nahorkatiya triggered a new wave of enthusiasm in the search for oil in the
country and became the forerunner of discoveries not only in Assam basin but
also in other basins.

1948 Geological Survey of India (GSI) started geophysical surveys in Cambay area.

1956 Moran oil field discovered by AOC.

August 14, 1956 Oil & Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) was established.

October 15, 1959 ONGC becomes autonomous body, under an act of parliament.
1959 Oil India Private Ltd (OIL) incorporated and registered as a Rupee Company.

1960 Oil struck at Ankleswar in Gujarat and Rudrasagar in Assam.

1961 GOI and BOC become equal partners in OIL.

1962 The first public sector refinery comes up at Guwahati.

1963 World’s first crude oil conditioning plant commissioned at Nahorkatiya. India’s first
deviated well NHK122 drilled by OIL.

1963 ONGC started offshore seismic surveys in Gulf of Cambay.

1968 Oil discovered in Geleki by ONGC.

OIL commissioned the 1158 km oil pipeline to Guwahati and Barauni refineries.
1970 India’s first offshore well spudded in the Gulf of Cambay.

1974 Drillship Sagar Samrat strikes oil in Bombay High.

1974 Bombay High discovered.

1981 First well spudded in Godavari offshore.
14 October 1981 OIL becomes a Government of India enterprise.

1983-84 Gas struck at Razole in Andhra Pradesh and Gotaru in Rajasthan.

1984 First Early Production system (EPS) commences in Gujarat .

1984 Gas was struck at Gotaru in Rajasthan by ONGC.

1984-85 Oil struck in kutch offshore, Godavari offshore and Changmaigam in Assam.

1986-87 ONGC strikes oil in the Tapti offshore area and Namti structure (Assam).

1988-89 Commercial gas finds in Rajasthan by OIL Nada field in Gujarat discovered .

1989-90 Western offshore production reaches a peak of 21.72 MMT.

1989-90 South Heera field discovered in Mumbai offshore.

1998 New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) launched and 48 Exploration blocks
offered under round-I.

2000 Second round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 25 Exploration
blocks offered .

2001 One CBM block awarded on nomination basis.

2002 Third round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 27 Exploration
blocks offered.

2002 First round of CBM blocks bidding held and 5 blocks awarded.

2003 Fourth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 24 Exploration
blocks offered.

2003 Two CBM blocks awarded on nomination basis.

2004 Second round of CBM blocks bidding held and 5 blocks awarded.

2005 Fifth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 20 Exploration
blocks offered .

2006 Sixth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 55 Exploration
blocks offered .
2006 Third round of CBM blocks bidding held and 10 blocks awarded.

2007 Seventh round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 57 Exploration
blocks offered .

2010 Fourth round of CBM blocks bidding held and 7 blocks awarded.

2010 Eighth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 32 Exploration
blocks awarded.

2012 Ninth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy launched and 14 Exploration
blocks awarded.
DGH is broadly bestowed with the responsibility of managing the
various activities with regard to Indian E&P acreages. They are in
terms of awarding blocks, executing production sharing
contracts, monitoring developments etc.

India has an estimated sedimentary area of 3.14 million square

kilometers, comprising 26 sedimentary basins, out of which 1.35 million
square kilometers area is in deep water and 1.79 million square
kilometers area is onland and shallow offshore. At present 1.06 million
square kilometers area is under active petroleum Exploration Licenses
in 18 basins by national oil companies and Private/Joint Venture
companies. A total of 35601 Sq Km area is under Mining Lease.
Operations are being carried out by National and Private oil companies in
597 concessions, of which 259 are under Petroleum Exploration License
(PEL) and 338 are under Mining Lease (ML)
An agreement between Contractor and Government whereby Contractor
bears all exploration risks, production and development costs in return for
its stipulated share of production resulting from this effort. These costs
are recoverable in case of commercial discovery.

Over the last twelve years, there have been significant forward steps in
exploring the hydrocarbon potential of the sedimentary basins of India.
The unexplored area has come down to 15% which was 50% in 1995-96.

Credit for this achievement goes in large measure to the surveys carried
out by DGH in unexplored/poorly explored areas of the country including
Deepwaters off west coast, east coast and in Andaman sea and acreages
awarded for exploration under NELPs. Concerned efforts are continuously
being done to reduce the unexplored area further.

On the basis of prospectivity basins have been categorised as follows:

Category : Proven Commerical Productivity

Basin Name Onland Area Offshore Area Total

Assam-Arakan 116000 - 116000

Cambay 51000 2500 53500

Cauvery 25000 30000 55000

Krishna-Godawari
Offshore
28000 24000 52000

Mumbai Offshore - 116000 116000

Rajasthan 126000 - 126000

Category : Identified Prospectivity

Basin Name Onland Area Offshore Area Total

Kutch 35000 13000 48000

Mahanadi-Nec 55000 14000 69000

Andaman-Nicobar 6000 41000 47000

 Category : Prospective Basins

Basin Name Onland Area Offshore Area Total

Bengal 57000 32000 89000

Ganga Valley 186000 - 186000

Himalyan Foreland 30000 - 30000

Kerla-Konkan
Lakshdweep
- 94000 94000

Saurashtra 52000 28000 80000

Vindhyan 162000 - 162000

Purnea - - 0
 Category : Potentially Prospective

Basin Name Onland Area Offshore Area Total

Bastar 5000 - 5000

Bhima Kaladgi 8500 - 8500

Chhattisgarh 32000 - 32000

Cuddapah 39000 - 39000

Deccan Syneclise 273000 - 273000

Karewa 3700 - 3700

Narmada 17000 - 17000

Pranhita Godavari 15000 - 15000

Satpura-S.Rewa-
Damodar
46000 - 46000

Spiti Zanskar 22000 - 22000