[Assam] ‘Asom Hydrocarbon Exploration and Development Company’

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  Guwahati, 4th June 2006 









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  Asom plans to enter hydrocarbon sector
       By a Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, June 3: The Government of Asom is contemplating on entering the oil and gas exploration industry with the setting up of a joint venture company likely to be named ‘Asom Hydrocarbon Exploration and Development Company’ in order to generate revenue and jobs. Oil India Ltd (OIL) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGCL) are the public sector companies currently engaged in oil and gas exploration in the State and the region.
Giving this information to the reporters in the city today, Asom Industry, Commerce and Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi said: “The proposed venture with private parties in the hydrocarbon sector will help the State generate more revenue and jobs.” He said that there were scopes of getting more oil and gas in the about 2,000 old and abandoned oil wells in the State, and as such their revival could be a viable proposition. “The existing refineries in Asom can refine about seven million tonnes crude oil but they are supplied with about five million tonnes crude oil from the State, and the rest two million tonnes crude oil comes from outside the State. If we can supply the refineries with the crude oil which is being brought from outside Asom, we can earn more revenue and generate job avenues since we have no dearth of manpower,” Bordoloi said, adding that the single-window clearance for the setting up of new industries in the State, a provision which is confined so far in the
 rule book only, needed to be made a reality so as to streamline the process. “I have already proposed the State Government to set up a separate secretariat to deal with industrial investments so as to make the setting up of new industries in the State a hassle-free affair,” Bordoloi said, and added: “Two special economic zones, one in upper Asom and the other in lower Asom, are under State Government’s consideration for quick acquisition of land for new industries.”
On the power front, the minister said that while power projects with cumulative generation capacity of 1360 MW were on the pipeline, an agreement had been finalized with West Bengal-based Amrit Biogas for the setting up of a paddy husk and bamboo dust-based mini thermal power project at Sonapur with an installed capacity of 15 MW. “The West Bengal company will invest Rs 50 crore in the project,” he said, and added that private parties were welcome for the setting up of mini hydel projects in the State. Besides the proposed 200 MW gas-based power project, which OIL had agreed to set up in principle, Bordoloi said that the Government was thinking of setting up the 120 MW Borgulai Power Project with private parties. According to him, the thrust of the Government was on power generation and rural electrification.
On the ageing Chandrapur Thermal Power Project, Bordoloi said: “Though the thermal project is not economically viable, we are going to revive it so that we can get power during the lean season from there.” 
He told the reporters that the State Government had appointed Shankar Sen as its energy advisor and former OIL CMD RK Dutta as its advisor of the Assam Gas Cracker Project.
He added that the 100 MW Karbi-Langpi project would be commissioned by the year-end and the NTPC would set up a new 500 MW thermal power project at Bongaigaon, while the Lakwa thermal waste heat project would produce 37 MW power. 
While the oldest 235 MW Namrup thermal power station would go for modernization by replacement with an efficient fuel, another 200 MW gas-based plant would be set up at Namrup, a 150 MW hydel project at lower Kopili, hydel projects of 60 MW at upper Borpani, 20 MW at Dhansiri and 33 MW at Hamren.
On the pipeline
* Target: State’s 2,000 old and abandoned oil wells. 
* Thrust on single-window clearance for industry.
* Paddy husk and bamboo dust-based power plant at Sonapur.
* Shankar Sen appointed as Energy advisor and RK Dutta as Gas Cracker advisor 
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