ONGC-NCAOR sign pact for study of hydrocarbon signatures

Panaji, Aug 23 (UNI) The public sector unit Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) had inked a pact today with the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) in Goa, for undertaking a collaborative project on surface geochemical exploration and paleoclimatic studies.

ONGC's Director D K Pande (exploration) and his NCAOR counterpart Rasik Ravindra singed a Memorandum of Understanding which envisaged sharing of resources and scientific manpower for successful implementation of the project, considered the first-of-its-kind in the country.

While ONGC is the leader in hydrocarbon exploration, the NCAOR is specialist in paleoclimatic studies responsible for launching 26 Indian Antarctic Expeditions so far, even as the latter started exploring the Arctic this month.

The joint team of scientists undertakes field studies off Saurashtra coast in October this year for assessing hydrocarbon potential using surface geochemical exploration techniques and paleoclimatic reconstruction of the last 100,000 years by collecting about 500 long sediment cores from the sea bed.

The scientists would deploy the services of the Off-Shore Research Vessel-ORV Sagar Kanya of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences under the management of the NCAOR for the sophisticated studies, according to the sources.

UNI