Advantage BJP as ONGC puts Bengal on India’s oil map ahead of state polls
NEW DELHI: State-run explorer ONGC on Sunday put West Bengal on India’s oil map by starting commercial production from Ashoknagar field near Kolkata, a move that will add heft to PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Purvodaya (rising east)’ plank in the runup to the state assembly elections a few months away.
Though the company did not provide any production estimate, the field, located 47 km from Kolkata in North 24 Parganas, brings redemption to the state as well as ONGC since the success follows several commercially unviable gas discoveries in the Bay of Bengal. It also establishes the Bengal Basin — India’s eighth sedimentary basin — as a commercially viable source of hydrocarbons.
“Around seven decades of relentless endeavours by scientists and engineers of India have panned out giving hope for robust development of West Bengal. The formal dedication of production site to the nation today marks this as a moment of national pride and a gift from the soil of West Bengal to India,” oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said after dedicating the project to the nation.
