Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has begun drilling in a shallow water block (WB-OSN/200/1) in Sunderbans. The company plans to spend Rs.600 crore in exploring the block which it bagged in the third round bidding under NELP.

ONGC had been planning to drill well in the block for some time now but could not find a rig for the purpose. It finally got a rig from multinational Transocean after one and a half years and two rounds of tendering.

The drilling site is 70-80 km inside the Bay of Bengal at a depth of 10 metre. Rigs for such drilling should be capable of working through sediments which are present in large quantities in shallow waters.

ONGC would also start drilling in the Mahanadi block towards winter. Drilling in the block was delayed due to rigs being deployed in the Krishna-Godavari. ONGC had spent Rs.175 crore for 3D seismic survey and data acquisition and another Rs.400 crore would be required for drilling four wells.

The last exploratory drilling was taken up in the Bay of Bengal in late eighties without any encouraging results.