Oil rig construction work in Gop, Puri nears completion; drilling to start soon 

With the confirmation of oil and natural gas deposits in Gop area of Puri district, the rig construction work is nearing completion. The drilling will start in the coming week. 

The preliminary process prior to drilling has been started near Bania Sahi on the banks of the Kushabhadra River. While officials of a Mumbai-based private company having expertise in the said field visited the spot and took stock of the process; three cranes and power generators and 100 trailer trucks carrying machinery and equipment have reached the spot. 

Meanwhile, an awareness programme meant for the local people was organised at the Oil India project site.   

In the preliminary stage, three ponds have been dug up and road to the drilling site has been laid out. 

“The drilling rig is nearing completion. We have planned to start drilling in the coming week. The drilling will go as deep as 2200 metres. Thereafter testing will be carried out upon which it can be said whether there is huge deposit of oil and gas here or not,” said Dr BN Sahu, GM, Oil India.

“They will study the different litho profiles. On the surface there is clay. Beneath this layer, there may be sand. The profiling will reveal about lithological units lying as layers. There is evidence of oil deposit here which is substantiated by their seismic method,” said geologist, Manas Ranjan Swain. 

A time period of three months has been set for drilling work, as per sources. 

Oil India had conducted surveys to find out oil and natural gas deposits at different places in Puri district. Later it had confirmed that there is a deposit of crude oil and natural gas at Kusupur and Chitra mouzas of Gop block.

(Reported by Sanjay Pati, OTV)