Mr Utpal Bora, Chairman & Managing Director, Oil India Limited (OIL) along with Dr. P. Chandrasekaran, Director (E&D) and a team from OIL called on the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr Nongthombam Biren Singh on 29th March, 2018 at Imphal. The meeting was attended by concerned ministers and officials of the state government. Mr Utpal Bora apprised Hon’ble Chief Minister about the ongoing activities in Manipur carried out by OIL under the National Seismic Programme (NSP), a flagship program of the Government of India under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The NSP aims to undertake a fresh appraisal in all sedimentary basins across India, especially where no/scanty data is available, to have a better understanding of the hydrocarbon potential of India.
Under this programme, Oil India was assigned to carry out 870 km line seismic survey in Manipur out of which only 4.5 km could be achieved in the last field season. CMD, OIL, sharing the present status of the project, mentioned that there are a lot of apprehension amongst the local people regarding the ongoing survey activities in Manipur which have resulted in resistance towards the activities and eventual stoppage of the work. He also informed that OIL had assigned the job to M/S Asian Oil who deployed two crews in Jiribam area but both the crews could not make any remarkable progress in this field season because of these reasons.
The Hon’ble Chief Minister was very concerned with the developments and assured CMD that the Government of Manipur would provide full support and help to OIL to carry out the work which is of National significance. He directed the DGP and Addl. Home Secretary to look into the matter and do the needful on priority basis. He also asked the Minister of Trade and Commerce to make necessary arrangements so that meetings can be held at village and local levels to create public awareness among the masses about the ongoing seismic activities.
The meeting was attended by Mr Thongam Biswajit Singh Minister of Trade, Commerce and industries, Mr Rajani Ranjan Rashmi, Chief Secretary Manipur, Mr Paulungthang Vaiphei Principal Secretary, Dr. J. Suresh Babu Addl Home Secretary, Mr L.M khaute DGP Police, Mr Maranchan Laikham, Director Trade, Commerce and Industry, Mr SI Sharma, Director Geology and Mining Division Manipur. The OIL’s team also included Mr Rajib Sharma Executive Director (Basin Manager), Mr GVJ Rao, Chief General Manager (HOD-Geophysics), Mr Koustav Dasgupta, Dy. Chief Geophysicist, and Mr Salim Jabeed Suptdg Geophysicist(NSP). Mr Rohit Agarwal, Director M/S Asian Oil, Mr Atul Bhoil, Vice President (Operations) M/S Asian Oil, Mr Praveen Kumar (Party Manager, Manipur Crews) M/S Asian Oil were also present on the occasion.
