Rajasthan govt pushes for higher crude oil output via advanced technologies

The Rajasthan government has stepped up efforts to formulate a comprehensive action plan for increasing crude oil and natural gas production in the state, with a strong emphasis on adopting advanced technologies and expanding exploration activities.

Chairing a high-level meeting at the Secretariat on Tuesday with senior officials from organisations engaged in crude oil and natural gas exploration and production, Arora stressed the need to leverage globally proven technologies to enhance production. She noted that Rajasthan ranks second in onshore natural gas production and third in crude oil production in the country.

Rajasthan now has the capacity to process around 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil produced within the state.

She observed that crude oil production has declined in recent years and called upon producing companies to adopt the latest technologies to reverse the trend. She emphasised that maximising refining of Rajasthan's crude oil within the state would contribute significantly to economic growth and value addition.

The Additional Chief Secretary said oil and gas companies should pursue a two-pronged strategy by accelerating exploration in new prospective areas while simultaneously enhancing production from existing fields through advanced recovery technologies. She stressed the need for a long-term action plan to achieve sustained growth in production.

She informed the meeting that Rajasthan has four major crude oil and natural gas basins: the Jaisalmer Basin, Barmer-Sanchore Basin, Bikaner-Nagaur Basin, and Vindhyan Basin.

Exploration and production activities are currently underway in the Jaisalmer, Barmer-Sanchore, and Bikaner-Nagaur basins. Petroleum Director Awadhesh Singh informed the meeting that the state has so far granted 12 petroleum mining leases and 12 petroleum exploration licences.

Rajasthan is currently producing approximately 54,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 2.2 million standard cubic metres of natural gas per day (MMSCMD). Representatives of Cairn India, ONGC, Oil India Limited, and Focus Energy made detailed presentations on ongoing exploration and production activities.

The meeting was also attended by Special Secretary (Mines) Namrata Vrishni, SG Sunil Kumar Verma, Joint Director (Petroleum) Dilip Raj Sharma, Deputy Directors Rohit Mallah, Mohan Kumawat, and Ankit Soni, along with representatives of the participating companies.

--IANS

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