Assam government has signed an agreement with Oil India Limited for the exploration of crude oil and natural gas in the northern bank of Brahmaputra.

The state government signed Petroleum Exploration Licenses deeds for two open acreage licensing policy (OALP) blocks with Oil India Ltd in Guwahati on Thursday.

Oil will invest around Rs 12 crores in these projects and will start seismic survey from February 2023.

Ananda Kr. Das, Joint Secretary & Director (Geology & Mining), Government of Assam & J.P Das, Executive Director (Frontier Basin), OIL, have signed the deeds on behalf of Government and Oil India Limited.

The two OALP blocks are AS-ONHP-2021/2 (Pathsala Block) and AS-ONHP-2021/3 (Mangaldai Block).

The areas under the block, AS-ONHP-2021/2 measuring 2445.30 Sq.km falls in the districts of Barpeta, Nalbari, Baksa, and Kamrup districts. The block, AS-ONHP-2021/3 measuring 1840.87 Sq.km is spread in the areas of Udalguri, Kamrup & Darrang districts.

This is the first time that exploration for Crude oil and Natural Gas will be done in the northern bank of Brahmaputra in lower Assam.