Man with Rs 25,000 reward held for supplying Indian SIM cards to Pakistan

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to invest over Rs 4,600 crore to drill more wells to increase production from its discovered fields, lay an offshore pipeline, and set up a gas processing facility in the coastal Konaseema district of Andhra Pradesh.

The public sector upstream oil giant sought the approval of the Ministry of Environment and Forests for the project and has been asked to carry out a biodiversity assessment to evaluate the impact of drilling activities and prepare an environmental restoration action plan to go ahead with the project, a senior official said.

The ONGC field is located 35 kilometres off the coast of Andhra Pradesh in water depths ranging from 300-3,200 metres. The discoveries of oil and gas in the block are divided into three clusters— Clusters 1, 2, and 3 across an area of 697 sq km.

ONGC has recently increased production from its flagship deep-sea project in the Krishna Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast, which will help augment the production of crude oil and natural gas

The upstream oil company is focused on raising production in the second half of FY25 (2024-25) by reducing the turnaround time for opening wells, the official said.

“Three oil wells of A-field of deepwater block KG basin block KG-DWN-98/2 were opened on October 30, 2024, thereby enhancing total oil production to about 25,000 barrels of oil per day from eight flowing wells of cluster-II. The remaining five oil wells are planned to be opened shortly,” ONGC said in an exchange filing recently.

In a significant development, ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) have also launched an ambitious exploration campaign in the Andaman ultra-deepwater region. For the first time, drilling operations are targeting depths of up to 5,000 metres. One such wildcat well, ANDW-7, drilled in a carbonate play in the East Andaman Back Arc region, has yielded encouraging geological insights. These include traces of light crude and condensate in cutting samples, heavy hydrocarbons like C-5 neo-pentane in trip gases, the government had said.

These findings establish, for the first time, the existence of an active thermogenic petroleum system in the region, comparable to those in Myanmar and North Sumatra. While commercial reserves remain to be established, this campaign has validated the presence of a working petroleum system and laid the foundation for focused exploration in the area, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has told Parliament.

ONGC has made hydrocarbon discoveries in 20 blocks, with an estimated reserve of 75 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE). Oil India Ltd., on its part, has made seven oil and gas discoveries over the past four years, with reserves estimated at 9.8 million barrels of oil and 2,706.3 million standard cubic meters of gas, the minister stated.

–IANS

sps/vd

Kolkata, Aug 24 (IANS) Ahead of Durga Puja, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are likely to visit West Bengal, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sources said on Sunday. While PM Modi is expected to hold a public meeting in Ranaghat of Nadia district, HM Shah is likely to inaugurate two Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata.

According to a party insider, invitations to inaugurate the Santosh Mitra Square Durga Puja in central Kolkata and Durga Puja at the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) – organised by West Bengal Cultural Manch – have been sent to Union Home Minister.

BJP leader and president of Santosh Mitra Square Puja Committee, Sajal Ghosh told IANS: “We have sent an invitation to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to inaugurate our Puja. We have not received his confirmation as of yet. But we are hopeful that he will inaugurate our durga puja like his did in 2023.”

The prominent Durga Puja committee had created Ram Mandir as its Puja theme in 2023.

The Union Home Minister has inaugurated the Puja and lauded Ghosh’s effort to design the Puja mandal as a replica of the temple in Ayodhya.

This year, the Puja committee has unveiled ‘Operation Sindoor’ as its theme for the festival.

Sources said that HM Shah is likely to visit Kolkata on September 22, a day after Mahalaya which marks the first day of Devi Paksha – the beginning of Durga Puja festivities.

Meanwhile, following the success of PM Modi’s recent trip to Bengal, the BJP is trying to organise a public meeting ahead of Durga Puja. Sources in the party said that PM Modi is likely to visit Bengal on September 20, a day before Mahalaya.

“There are plans that PM Modi is likely to hold another public meeting in Bengal. The meeting will be held at Ranaghat in Nadia district. We are awaiting an official confirmation from Prime Minister’s Office,” said a senior BJP leader.

The visit of the top BJP leadership to the state assumes significance as the party is trying to connect with Bengalis through Durga Puja festivities in view of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.

–IANS

sch/pgh

Kolkata, June 12 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has said that India, which was lagging in infrastructure development during the previous regimes in the country, is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and this was possible because of the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last 12 years of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule in the country.

Speaking to the media persons on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the NDA government at the Centre, CM Adhikari elaborated on the statistical details of the major economic developments in the country during the last 12 years.

“In the last 12 years, 1,317 new and modernised railway stations have been built in the country. More than 164 Vande Bharat trains are running in different parts of the country. Once Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express were the hallmarks of modern railway services. Now Vande Bharat has become a symbol of the country’s new aspirations. Under Narendra Modi’s leadership, the distance from one end of the country to the other has reduced. The time gap has also reduced, and the pace of economic activities has increased,” the Chief Minister said.

According to him, besides the railways, India had also progressed exceptionally in the civil aviation sector during the last 12 years. “In 2014, the number of airports in the country was 74. Today, that number has more than doubled. Over 90 new airports have been built in the country in the last 12 years,” the Chief Minister added.

According to him, the remarkable development in the road transport segment during the last 12 years is evident from the construction of about four lakh kilometres of roads, expansion of national highways, development of communication system in border and remote areas

“All these have changed the economic structure of the country for the better. Development is no longer just centred in the metropolitan cities. Rather it has reached the remotest corners of the villages,” CM Adhikari said.

Speaking from the West Bengal perspective, he said that in just one month of the new government in the state, pace has been added to development activities through better coordination between the state and Union government.

“The Union ministers are coming to West Bengal. We are also going to Delhi regularly. As a result, the work of approving and implementing projects is progressing rapidly,” the Chief Minister said.

He also confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to West Bengal later this month and will attend two functions in the state.

On June 20, which will henceforth be celebrated as the ‘Bengal Foundation Day’, the Prime Minister will address a gathering in Tarakeswar, Hooghly district, known for the iconic Tarakeshwar (Lord Shiva) temple, and will announce some development projects for the state from there.

On June 21, the Prime Minister is scheduled to attend a programme in Kolkata on the occasion of the ‘International Day of Yoga’.

–IANS

src/dpb