Government of India extends license of Vedanta’s Barmer oil block by 10 years

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The government of India has extended the production sharing contract license of the Barmer oil block owned by Cairns Oil and Gas, a unit of Vedanta limited, till 14 May 2030. This information was given by the Anil Agarwal owned company in a stock exchange filing on 27 October 2022.The initial licence to explore and produce oil and gas from the Barmer block expired on May 14, 2020. 

Barmer oil field 

The Barmer block, with 38 discoveries, till date, has a reserve of hydrocarbons of 5.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The block has cumulatively produced more than 700 million barrels of oil in the last decade. 

The main oil producing wells have been named by Cairns as  Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwarya.

On 21 February 2022, Cairns announced the fresh discovery of oil in the Barmer oil block of Rajasthan the oil well was named as“Durga ''.

Government of India Company ONGC holds a 30% stake in the block while Cairn Oil & Gas, a unit of Vedanta Ltd., is the operator with a 70% stake.

Fact files Oil  

• Edwin L. Drake drilled the world's first oil well in 1859 at Titusville, Pennsylvania, USA, in 1866,
• The first oil well to be dug in India was  at Digboi field in Assam in September 1889-1890 by Assam Railways and Trading Company Limited registered in London.
• In 1901, Asia's first oil refinery was set up at Digboi, Assam. It is still functional and the world's oldest operating refinery.
• The first oil discovery in independent India was made in 1953 in Naharkatia and then in Moran in 1956 both in Upper Assam. 
•  Within a year of being formed, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) discovered oil at Cambay (Gujarat), the  giant Ankleshwar field in the state of Gujarat in 1960, Kalol (Gujarat) in 1961, Lakwa (Assam)in 1964, Geleki(Assam) in 1968.
• However, the biggest discovery of oil in India was made by ONGC in Mumbai  High in 1974.  It is an offshore oilfield 176 km off the west coast of Mumbai, in the Gulf of Cambay region of India, in about 75 m of water.

Source : Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India)