Government Nod for data collection of Oil bases

New Delhi Sept 13: The union cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken some crucial decisions.

* Cabinet yesterday has approved a project to acquire 48,243 line kilometer (LKM) 2D seismic data for appraisal of Indian sedimentary basins where limited data is available

* National oil companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) will implement the project.

Ravi Shankar Prasad while briefing the media about the decision has said that "The project will help in increasing the investments in the domestic production of oil and gas".

* OIL will conduct survey in North-Eastern states
* ONGC would survey the remaining areas

* Rs2,932.99 crore cost of the project will first be borne by the state-owned firms and reimbursed by the government later.

* The project would be completed in 5 years.

* 11,000 jobs of direct and indirect will be generated.

* 1.502 million sq. km. or 48% of the total sedimentary basin area has not been adequately mapped for hydrocarbon prospects.

Experts have hailed the decision and said that this would help the country to increase its oil base and more areas can be covered for oil exploration.