Oil India To Explore Hydrocarbons In Dibru-Saikhowa National Park

The Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) gave green clearance for the extension drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations by OIL under Dibru-Saikhowa National Park area in Assam’s Tinsukia district.
The MoEFCC clearance comes close on the heels of the National Board of Wild Life’s (NBWL) approval on April 17, allowing Coal India Limited to carry out opencast and underground coal mining in a portion of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve in the state.
Spread over 340 square kilometres, Dibru-Saikhowa is one of the five national parks in the north-east region’s most populous state. The park, which is also a biosphere reserve, is home to 36 mammal species including tiger, Gangetic dolphin, feral horses, etc. and 382 bird species.
OIL will not enter the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park area and operations will be conducted through extended reach drilling (ERD) technology. ERD is used to explore for hydrocarbon far from the surface or areas of the reservoir, which are otherwise difficult to access.