Andhra govt issues NOC to Vedanta Ltd to drill 20 onshore oil, gas wells

The Andhra Pradesh government issued a conditional No Objection Certificate to Vedanta’s Cairn Oil & Gas for drilling 20 onshore wells in Krishna district under the DSF Policy, permitting activity subject to strict irrigation safeguards and mandatory departmental clearances

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has issued a conditional “No Objection Certificate” to Vedanta Limited (Cairn Oil & Gas Division) for drilling 20 onshore wells in Krishna district.

According to a recent Government Order, Vedanta Limited (Cairn Oil & Gas Division) has submitted a representation, stating that their firm was awarded the work of development of the Onshore Oil and Gas Field under the Discovered Small Field (DSF) Policy, 2018.

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Further, they requested to grant a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for drilling wells at 35 locations in the block located in various village limits for Onshore Oil and Gas Development and Production, from the Water Resources Department of Andhra Pradesh, as the Bandar Canal passes through the centre of the proposed block.

“After careful examination of the matter, the government hereby issues ‘No Objection Certificate’ to M/s Vedanta Limited (Cairn Oil & Gas Division), Mumbai, for drilling 20 Nos. of wells at the locations mentioned at para (2) above subject to the terms & conditions as mentioned at para (3) above,” the order said.

The Engineer-in-Chief (Irrigation), Water Resources Department, Vijayawada, the Chief Engineer, Krishna Delta System, Vijayawada, and the Collector of Krishna District shall take necessary action accordingly, it added.

According to the order, the NoC can be issued only from the irrigation point of view and is purely temporary in nature. The applicant shall obtain all required permissions from the departments concerned before commencing operations, as per norms.

No water shall be drawn from irrigation canal sources such as the Bandar Canal, KDS canal network, drainage network, ponds, reservoirs, or any other surface-water source, it said.

Cairn Oil & Gas, a division of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest private oil and gas exploration production company, contributing approximately a quarter of the country’s domestic crude production, with a vision to increase this contribution to 50 per cent through sustainable and responsible practices.