Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd is planning to drill seven development wells in the state, setting the stage for the long awaited commercial exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits from the Bengal basin.

A proposal to drill the wells in and around Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas, the epicentre of the PSU’s exploration activities in Bengal, will be placed before the ONGC board in the next few months. If the field development plan is approved, it will be submitted before the directorate-general of hydrocarbons (DGH) for final approval.

ONGC sees potential to produce 45,000-50,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day from Ashoknagar. “It would take about two years to drill the development wells, which will produce a mix of oil and natural gas. The wells will come up within a radius of two kilometres,” Shyamal Bose, chief general manager of ONGC, said.

He was speaking at a stakeholders’ consultation on natural gas in Bengal, organised by business chamber Ficci. ONGC has dug up three exploratory wells in and around the Ashoknagar area. Once commercial viability is established, ONGC plans to tap into the city-gas distribution network of HPCL and GAIL’s trunk pipeline and deliver the gas.

“We feel ONGC will have a bright future in Bengal in the next five years,” Bose added. Gas carrier GAIL is hoping to remove the obstacles in laying the pipeline from Panagarh to Gayeshpur, a town bordering Nadia and North 24-Parganas. “Our target is June 2023. We are pretty confident this time around, given the proactive support from the state in arranging land to lay the pipeline,” Asim Prasad, chief general manager of GAIL, said at the meeting.

The trunk line to Gayeshpur, located about 50 kilometre north of Calcutta, will be a crucial step in connecting the metropolis and its adjoining area with the national gas grid. Bengal Gas Company Ltd, a joint venture between GAIL and the Bengal government, which is licensed to provide piped gas to Calcutta, will build the infrastructure to connect Gayeshpur with the city.

Prasad said that delay in implementation would hurt the consumer as the cost on account of the time over-run would be added to the transportation cost. Often the compensations provided by gas carriers are perceived to be inadequate by the landowners.

Anurag Srivastava, senior special secretary in commerce & industry of Bengal, said the progress of the gas pipeline network is being monitored by the state. Bhashit Dholakia, chief operating officer of Indian OilAdani Gas Pvt Ltd, who spoke at the meeting, said the company has started providing piped gas to households in its geographic areas of east and west Burdwan.

BGCL’s head of marketing Pankaj Kumar Biswas said the construction of the pipeline network in and around Calcutta was in full swing in anticipation of GAIL’s trunk line. It is targeting large housing complexes on EM Bypass and Rajarhat to provide piped gas to consumers.