Hydrocarbon presence confirmed in Brahmaputra’s North Bank at Kobochapori: Oil India

Seismic studies are being done to ascertain structure of the deposits and formation, and to explore production possibility.;

Update: 2025-06-04 06:13 GMT
Hydrocarbon presence confirmed in Brahmaputra’s North Bank at Kobochapori: Oil India
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Guwahati, Jun 4: Oil India Limited has established presence of hydrocarbon in the north bank of the Brahmaputra and studies are currently on to ascertain commercial viability.

“It would not be appropriate to term it as discovery now, because we need to follow a process. But I can make a statement that based on our strategy-driven exploration, we have established presence of hydrocarbon in the north bank at a place called Kobochapori. To define something as discovery, we need to establish commercial viability,” OIL CMD Ranjit Rath told the press during an interaction on Monday evening.

Seismic studies are being done to ascertain structure of the deposits and formation, and to explore production possibility.

“We are planning to drill additional wells, to establish real potential with respect to its numbers. We have already acquired seismic data from the Biswanath Chariali-Mangaldai area and reprocessing it. The prospects of the belt are under study,” Rath said.

Mentioning that the Assam Shelf Basin is Category I basin and “one of the best”, Rath said OIL sees a “lot of opportunity” in the region.

He said the oil PSU is in the process of “re-processing” the existing data of upper Assam. “This will take a substantial time. An international consultant has been engaged for conducting fresh studies,” he said.

“During the last two years, 40-plus geological and geo-physical studies were conducted and 90-plus prospective locations (upper Assam) which are drillable have been identified. We hope to identify more such new opportunities. Another round of seismic study will be conducted, if needed,” the CMD said.

He also said OIL is not restricting the drilling in upper Assam to particular depths. “We are trying to produce more oil from the old and mature fields. Earlier, we were drilling 3,500 metres. In the north bank we went up to 4,500 metres. In the Sadiya well, our attempt was 6,500 metres and is one of the deepest well attempted in this part of the globe,” he said.

“However, we could reach 5,900 metres and realized that we need to come prepared. We are re-working the drilling strategy there. We are not only looking at newer locations, we are also going deeper,” he added.

Last year, around 70 wells were drilled in Assam.

India is currently processing about 258 million metric tonnes of crude oil, of which imports account for 88 per cent. By 2040, India has set a target to process 400-plus million metric tonnes.

OIL achieved its highest-ever combined oil and gas production of 6.71 MMTOE during the financial year 2024-25 (FY25). Crude oil production for FY25 increased by 2.95 per cent to 3.458 MMT and the natural gas production increased by 2.20 per cent to 3.252 BCM which is the highest ever achieved by the company since its inception.

The company registered an increase of 10.13 per cent profit after tax at Rs 6,114.19 crore for the year ended March 31, 2025.


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