Cairn to begin seismic survey in Bihar this week

New Delhi, Apr 16 (UNI) Cairn India, an arm of Scottish oil exploration major Cairn Energy, today said it would start seismic survey operations in Bihar this week.

The onshore NELP IV block GV-ONN-2002/1 in northern Bihar was awarded to the company under a production sharing contract (PSC) by the government in 2004.

An airborne geomagnetic survey of the block has just finished and is being followed by the 2D seismic survey programme, that is expected to be completed by June-end this year, a company statement said.

The seismic survey operations are scheduled to start in the districts of Samastipur, Darbhanga and Madhubani.

The programme covers an area from Dalsinghsarai in the South to Jainagar in the North and from Singhwara and Ladania in the West and East respectively. About 500 Line kilometres of data will be acquired.

The aim of the seismic survey is to understand the structures below the surface.

Further, teams will be drilling shallow holes along each survey line and they will be followed by the main seismic survey team who will lay out cables and equipment.

They will be present in all stages of the operation to explain the survey and associated crop compensation process to the farmers and local people, it said.

The company authorised representatives are meeting with agricultural representatives in each district to discuss crop prices. Farmers are expected to be compensated within weeks of the survey moving over their properties.

The GV-ONN-2002/1 block in north Bihar is within the Ganga Basin, which is one of the largest sedimentary basins of India, but is under-explored and no hydrocarbons have yet been discovered.

As per the PSC, Cairn India has a seven-year exploration period comprising of three phases, which commenced from the issue of the Petroleum Exploration Licence on June 8, 2005.

As operator of the PSC, Cairn India holds a 50 per cent interest in this block with joint venture partner Cairn Energy plc, through its subsidiary Capricorn Energy Ltd, holding the remaining 50 per cent interest.

UNI