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SOUTH ASIA salute to the innovative engineering practices towards becoming a gas-based economy and
as well as active support of the State and the government is committed to provide
Modi dedicates Indian Oil Central Governments that this project has infrastructure to facilitate this. Shri Pradhan
come through in time and will immensely
said that the Government with the spirit of
LPG bottling plants, pipeline benefit the citizens”. Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas has worked to usher
in a blue flame revolution in the country.
He also mentioned that several
Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister, infrastructure projects in the petroleum sector The Minister also appealed to the
dedicated to the nation two new LPG cooking in Bihar, including the Rs. 14,810 crore project entrepreneurs to take advantage of policy
gas bottling plants, at Champaran and Banka for expansion of Barauni refinery capacity, is reforms, compete and bring in innovation in
in Bihar, along with the Durgapur-Banka in full swing and the fertilizer plant at Barauni fuel marketing which will be beneficial for the
section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG is also being revived. The Prime Minister said, consumers.
pipeline through a video link here today. “While the Durgapur-Banka link is being INDIAN OIL, September 10, 2020
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister dedicated to the nation today, work on the
Shri Narendra Modi reiterated that the extension of Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG PPL achieves milestone in
Government of India is committed to Pipeline onward from Banka to Patna and
ushering in a new era of progress in the state Muzaffarpur are underway too”. frontier exploration
of Bihar. He mentioned that the PM package INDIAN OIL, September 13, 2020
given for Bihar included 10 major projects Due to a decline in easy and big hydrocarbon
related to petroleum and gas and about Rs. Pradhan inaugurates 56 finds in the country’s known basins, Pakistan
21,000 crore was to be spent on these projects. Petroleum Limited (PPL) has taken up the
He also shared that the work on seven such CNG stations challenge to venture into risk prone yet
projects has already been completed. prospective frontier areas to increase its
The Prime Minister said that the Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Union hydrocarbon reserve base and open up new
infrastructural development has been one of Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and plays for exploration.
the key focus areas in the PM’s Bihar Package. Steel, formally inaugurated 56 CNG stations As a result, since 2009, 13 exploratory wells
Expressing his happiness over the timely spread across 13 States and a Union Territory have been drilled in Balochistan alone. PPL
completion of the 193-km long Durgapur- over a video link here today. With the addition recently achieved a historic milestone with
Banka LPG pipeline section, Sri Modi said “I of these stations to India’s CNG retail network, the discovery of significant gas reserves from
had laid the foundation stone for this project the daily filling capacity of the environment- Morgandh X-1 in Margand Block, Balochistan
less than 1.5 years back. I am told that the friendly fuel in the country is expected to go on the Kalat plateau. Notably, this was the
completion of this stretch of the pipeline up by over 50,000 vehicles. westernmost discovery in Pakistan, opening
was extremely challenging as this pipeline Speaking on the occasion, the Minister up a new sub-basin for future exploration.
navigates 10 major rivers, approximately 10 said that in the last 6 years, the number Further deepening up of Morgandh X-1
km stretch of the forest, and very hostile, of CNG stations has gone up from 947 to resulted in a longer gas bearing column of
rocky, and undulating terrain. This is indeed a over 2300. He said that India is moving about one kilometre, indicating larger reserves
potential than estimated earlier which will
be firmed up based on appraisal wells. The
discovered column of gas along with map
indicates a volume close to one trillion cubic
feet (Tcf) of gas.
This will also pave the way for attracting
interest from foreign Exploration and
Production (E&P) companies to invest in
frontier exploration and supplement the
efforts of public sector companies, such as
PPL which has always provided required
impetus.
With a portfolio of 48 exploration blocks
and 59 fields and discoveries, PPL made a
record number of 11 discoveries in one year
during 2018-19 with a further two in 2019-20,
achieving a reserves replacement ratio of 110
percent.
“E&P business is cost, technology-
and risk-intensive with a long gestation
period, especially for gas. These are
compounded in frontier areas with
mountainous terrain, where access,
security and infrastructure issues are
major hurdles. Our success in Morgandh
suggests our conviction.,” highlights Moin
Raza Khan, MD & CEO, PPL.
PAKISTAN PETROLEUM, September 10, 2020

Week 37 17•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13