Nagaland coal, oil tap close to opening

Nagaland coal, oil tap close to opening

Nagaland coal, oil tap close to opening

Promit Mukherjee. @promit07

Mumbai: The vast reserves of oil and coal in Nagaland, which remain out of bounds for user industries, may be set to open soon. If sources are to be believed, former petroleum secretary R S Pandey, who was appointed as the interlocutor in February 2010 to resolve a long-running dispute with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), has managed to iron out several differences with the ethnic party. The NSCN-IM had been demanding the establishment of Nagalim, or Greater Nagaland, consisting of all the Naga-inhabited areas of neighbouring Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and some portions of Myanmar, which it considers to be the rightful homeland of the Nagas. But the Centre, which has come to the negotiation table with the party leaders almost 50 times, has not agreed to their demands, said the sources. Pandey himself conceded to dna that “several differences (with the NSCN-IM) have been narrowed”, but did not disclose further detail. Highly placed sources said, however, that the warring party has mellowed substantially and agreed to give up several demands. “This might eventually pave the way for oil and coal exploration as both central and state governments are showing interest now,” said one of the sources. That’s good news for state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India, which have been struggling to increase production from the flagging basins in the country. The reserves of oil on the onshore sedimentary basins of Nagaland have largely stayed trapped in the prolific Assam-Arakan basin since 1994 when ONGC walked out of the state due to the disputed nature of the region. While the company and its onshore peer Oil India continued exploration from the Assam side of the basin, the reserves in Nagaland have been lying idle. According to media reports, estimates of oil reserves indicate that the Tzurangkong (under Tuli sub-division, Mokokchung) belt, falling under Wamakan-Amguri area adjoining the Geleki reserve forest, has an estimated 50-60 million metric tonne of crude oil. This belt is believed to hold the highest and yet to be proven crude oil reserve within Nagaland. The estimated reserve at Changpang, where ONGC had been drilling oil since the Eighties and from where one million tonne of crude was extracted as against the permit for 18 kilolitres on experimental basis, has around 20-30 million metric tonne. The assessed coal reserves in Nagaland, on the other hand, were around 315 million tonne at the end of 2011, according to a media report. This, however, could not be independently ascertained.

Published Date:  Aug 19, 2013 DNA