ONGC not part of Neduvasal project, say officials

“ONGC is not an awardee under Discovered Small Field (DSF) bid, 2016, in Tamil Nadu,” said Kulbir Singh, Executive Director-Asset Manager of Cauvery Asset of ONGC and Pawan Kumar Group General Manager- Basin Manager, Cauvery Basin of ONGC. 

Addressing the media on Thursday, the officials reiterated that ONGC would never work on projects that affected the environment and agriculture. The corporation had nothing to do with Neduvasal project as being circulated a certain section, they added. 

Stating that a series of misconceptions were being spread among the public through various media, the officials said that the oil exploration and natural gas extraction processes would not cause cancer. “Claims of the chemicals used during exploration and that the oil so extracted are poisonous and they can cause cancer are baseless,” the officials said. “All explorations are carefully done with the due consent of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas,” they added. 

Refuting the charges that fertile land would turn barren on completion of such explorations, the senior officials said the ONGC whenever it acquired land for exploration had returned them in their original condition after the completion of the process all these years. “So far, we have returned 21 land parcels back to the owners in their original condition after the explorations and the lands continued to be fertile,” said Kulbir Singh. 

He also denied the charges of water contamination in the areas of exploration. “The ONGC used to get the declaration of no contamination certificate from the TNPCB. As no synthetic substances are used in the exploration, chances for air pollution was remote,” Kulbir Singh further clarified and stressed “The information about such contaminations spread among the public are wrong.” 

“Generally, the delta areas are prolific producers of oil and gas. Not only the Cauvery delta, but also Bramhaputra and Godavari delta are rich in such resources. The ONGC ensures that there is no harm to the environment and safety of the people as well as the farmers at their project sites,” said Pawan Kumar. 

ONGC had drilled as many as 13 wells in Pudukkottai district, but 10 were closed due to non-availability of oil resource. Three places near Neduvasal - Nallandarkoil, Pullanviduthi and Karugikeezhtheru - showed some potential. “In these three places too, there is only a minimal quantity of the resource available. That cannot be commercialised,” added Pawan Kumar. 

The officials strictly refuted the notion that the entire Neduvasal region would be acquired for oil exploration. “There are 2,500 acres in the region, only 20 to 50 acres will be used for the wells,” Pawan Kumar said and added that ONGC has no plan to extract shale gas, shale oil or coal bed methane in the Cauvery basin.