An exploratory well in Son valley sector in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district discovered gas, and on tests confirmed commercially available volumes, the company said in a statement.

 

"Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is on its way to commercialize another Basin -- the Vindhyan Basin. This would be the 9th producing Basin of India (and) the 9th by ONGC," it said.

 

The firm had in December 2020 opened the 8th Indian Basin the Bengal Basin, when commercial oil production started from Ashok Nagar discovery.

 

India has 26 sedimentary basins, covering a total area of 3.4 million square kilometers spread over land and sea. Of these, 7 basins - Krishna Godavari, Mumbai Offshore, Assam Shelf, Rajasthan, Cauvery, Assam-Arakan Fold Belt and Cambay - have commercially producing oil and gas discoveries. Bengal got added to the list in December 2020.

 

Besides, there are 5 basins - Saurashtra, Kutch, Vindhyan, Mahanadi and Andaman - which are believed to hold hydrocarbon potential but so far do not have commercially demonstrable discovery. Other basins have very little prospectivity for hydrocarbons.

 

"Exploratory well Hatta#3 was drilled with the objective to establish commercial potential through detailed testing to acquire reservoir-specific data. The Well Hatta#3 is in the Son valley sector of Madhya Pradesh.

 

"On testing, the well-produced over 62,044 cubic meters per day of gas, thus confirming the production potential of Proterozoic Basin for the 1st time in India," the statement said.

 

ONGC Director (Exploration) R K Srivastava personally supervised the testing activities at the well-site on this historic occasion on March 29, 2022.

 

Active exploration in the Vindhyan Basin began with the acquisition of seismic data in the late 1980s.

 

The very 1st well, Jabera#1, drilled in the Basin in 1991, produced gas of around 2,000 cubic meters/day. Perseverance of ONGC spanned over the next 25 years, with drilling of 26 exploratory wells in the Son and Chambal valley sector of the Vindhyan Basin, notwithstanding 14 of them providing sub-commercial gas flows in the Son Valley.

 

"Finally, continued efforts have now paid off - the Vindhyan Basin is close to becoming the 9th producing Basin of India," the statement said.