Page 10 - AsianOil Week 40 2021
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country’s retroactive taxation system. The move in 2016 to replace the New Exploration Licens-
is expected to boost foreign investors’ interest in ing Policy (NELP). As part of HELP, the gov-
the country, given that retroactive taxation led ernment also rolled out the Open Acreage
the government into high-profile disputes with Licensing Programme (OALP) under HELP,
the UK’s Cairn Energy and Vodafone. offering upstream companies marketing and
The government introduced the Hydrocar- pricing freedom.
bon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP)
ONGC may exit Tamil Nadu oil
project after local protests
PROJECTS & INDIA’S state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. land restored to the local population within six
COMPANIES (ONGC) is reportedly preparing to relinquish months.
land it was developing in the country’s southern “However, it has been more than three years
state of Tamil Nadu after continued opposition and nothing has been done. The issue was raised
from local residents. at our [village forum] held on [October 2],” Dak-
The major has agreed to remediate several oil shinamurthy said.
wells located near Neduvasal village, the New ONGC has been under increasing pressure
Indian Express reported on October 7, citing the this year over its poor environmental record in
head of the village council. Tamil Nadu, with the southern state’s govern-
ONGC had agreed to relinquish the land after ment growing increasingly hostile towards the
the council adopted a resolution seeking the dis- company’s exploration efforts.
mantling of the oil wells, K Dakshinamurthy told One of the company’s pipelines leaked in late
the daily. June near Melapanaiyur village, leading local
The official added that seven ONGC offi- farmers to demand compensation for the oil
cials had inspected the wells in the 4.5-acre spill. The head of the village council, Jeevanan-
(18,200-square metre) plot of land on October 5. dam, called on the major to remove its ageing
OGNC drilled wells across the acreage – which pipelines from local farmland.
encompasses the Vanakkankadu, Kottaikadu, The spill came roughly a week after the Tamil
Karukkakurichi, Karambangudi and Vadakadu Nadu government decided on June 21 to reject
villages – in the 1990s and the local population the company’s application to drill 15 exploration
has protested about the activity ever since. wells in the state.
Local protests reached their peak in 2017 The state major had sought permission from
after the company proposed new development Tamil Nadu’s State Environment Impact Assessment
drilling, Dakshinamurthy noted. The official Authority (SEIAA) to drill 10 wells in Ariyalur district
said there had been several oil leaks from the and five in Cuddalore district in mid-June. However,
wells that year which had led to ONGC carrying Tamil Nadu Industries Minister Thangam Then-
out an inspection and closing the wells. narasu said the SEIAA had rejected the application on
Dakshinamurthy added that the district the grounds that the company’s submissions lacked
collector at the time had assured local resi- details about the projects’ socio-economic and envi-
dents that the oil wells would be cleared and the ronmental impact.
P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 07•October•2021
