Oil India Limited has established an oil rig at Kusupur in Puri’s Gop block near Konark to explore for crude oil and natural gas in the area.
According to reports, all of the advanced machinery and equipment needed to make the rig operational has arrived at the site, and the process will begin soon.
Following the discovery of crude oil in the Mahanadi Basin near Konark last year, the Central government PSU leased eight acres of land from 37 land owners in Kusupur for three years in order to investigate the quantity and quality of underground oil.
“This is the first phase of the exploration,” said Ravi, an Oil India Supervisor. The rig has been installed. The drilling will begin.
“This is the first phase of exploration,” said Ravi, an Oil India Supervisor. The rig has been assembled. We will begin drilling by the end of this month.”
“In terms of depth, we plan to drill up to 22000 metres. “It could go beyond that if necessary,” he said.
Corroborating the claims, a geologist, Manas Swain said, “They will drill a minimum of 600 metres and it can go up to 3000 metres depending upon the oil level in the area. Before oil can be extracted from the well, the exploration process will take 1-2 years.”
Extensive exploratory drilling and surveys were carried out in Puri, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, and Balasore in 2012, at a cost of Rs 1248 crore, including Rs 220 crore for seismic surveys.
Oil and natural gas deposits were discovered in two locations in the Gop block after surveying 3000 square kilometres of five blocks. Satellite mapping was used to identify eight acres of land in Kusupur Mouza and another eight acres in Chitra Mouza under Mahalpada panchayat.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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