Britain's exploration major Cairn
Energy Search Ltd (CESL) will begin a survey in basin of river Ganges for oil
and natural gas in Bihar from 15 Jan 2007. The CESL and Cairn Energy Search
India Ltd, which has been offered a seven-year license, will begin the survey in
the Ganges basin, comprising 13 districts of Bihar.
A state-of-the-art airplane was hired
from Canada Sunday for conducting the aerial survey. The exploration project had
got clearance from concerned Ministries of Indian government, including defence,
petroleum, civil aviation and atomic energy as well as the Geological Survey of
India.
Reserves in the Ganges basin are
estimated at 465 million tonnes of crude and natural gas. The government will
get 10 per cent royalty for every tonne extracted.