VEDANTA Ltd owned Cairn Oil & Gas obtained terms of reference (ToR) from the Indian government to carry out an environment impact assessment (EIA) for drilling oil and gas exploration wells in the country’s east coast.
The ToR to move ahead with the EIA issued on Saturday (11) for drilling a total of 274 offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration wells in the Bay of Bengal, Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Villupuram, and Puducherry in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Anil Agarwal owned firm aims to drill 116 exploratory and appraisal wells in project block one and 158 wells in project block two.
The depth of the drilling wells will be between 3,500 and 4,500 metres each and the average cost per well is projected at Rs 490 million.
The first block is spread on an area of 1,794 square kilometres, of which 1,654 square kilometres is offshore in the Bay of Bengal.
The second block covers an area of 2,574 square kilometres consisting of 2,393 square kilometres of sea portion of the Bay of Bengal, according to the submissions made by the company to the government while applying for the grant of ToR.
Mumbai headquartered firm received the ToR for conducting an EIA as the first move in a series of steps that need to be finished and certified before starting a project.
The EIA will study the environmental impact of the project to be undertaken, narrate the consequences and the mitigation measures to be undertaken.
