In India, petroleum was discovered in 1860, when Assam Railway was laying down railway track near Margherita. After several attempts petroleum was struck at Makum on 26 March 1867. Another important achievement was the discovery of petroleum in the Digboi area in 1889. The Burmah Oil Company started exploring oil in the Surma valley region in 1915. Until 1953, the Digboi area was the sole producer of mineral oil in India.
At present, there are four main petroleum producing regions in the country. Two of them are on-shore the Brahmaputra valley and the Gujarat coast. The other two are off-shore the western coast off-shore oilfields and the eastern coast off-shore oilfields. About two-third of the total petroleum production in India comes from the off-shore oilfields.
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1. The Brahmaputra Valley:
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It is the oldest oil producing region in India. The main oil producing fields are at Digboi, Moran-Hugrijan, Nahar Katiya, Rudrasagar, Surma Valley, etc. in the districts of Dibrugarh and Sibsagar in Assam.
The crude petroleum from Digboi is sent to Digboi refinery and from Nahar Katiya to Noonmati and
Barauni refineries. The Moran-Hugrijan is located 40 km southwest of Nahar Katiya. The crude oil is sent to the Barauni refinery. Some oil-fields have been located in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
2. The Gujarat Coast:
This is the second largest petroleum producing area in India. This area has two distinct oil-bearing belts Gulf of Cambay (Cambay and Ankleshwar) and the area from Kaira to Mehsana (Kalol, Navgam, Bacharji and Mehsana).
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The Cambay oil-fields lie about 60 km west of Vadodara. The crude oil has less sulphur and more wax. The commercial production in the Ankleshwar region started in 1961. The petroleum is rich in kerosene and gasoline. The entire production is sent to Koyali and Trombay refineries. The Ahmadabad-Kalol area is located towards the north of the Cambay basin. The other oil-fields are in Kosamba, Kathana, Sanad, Dholka, Bakrol, Kadi, etc.
3. The Off-Shore Oilfields:
Before 1976, the entire petroleum production was from the on-shore fields. Due to extensive surveys conducted by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission in the off-shore areas of Kuchchh, Khambat, Konkan, Malabar Coast, Coromandel Coast, Sundarbans and Krishna-Godavari delta, several fields have been discovered for commercial production of petroleum.
The West Coast Off-shore oilfield The ONGC has discovered oilfields at Mumbai High, Bassein and Aliabet. The Mumbai High oilfields were discovered in 1974. It is located about 176 km northwest of Mumbai. Today it is the largest oil producing region in India. Petroleum is taken out from a depth of about 1400 m with the help of a specially designed platform known as Sagar Samrat. The petroleum has a higher percentage of petrol and kerosene.
The Bassein Oil-fields, a recent discovery, is located towards the south of Mumbai High. The reserves, at a depth of about 1900 m, are estimated to be more than those of Mumbai High. The production of petroleum has already started and is expected to pick up soon.
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The Aliabet Oilfields have been recently discovered in the Gulf of Khambat, about 45 km of Bhavnagar. The commercial production of petroleum is expected to start soon.
The Eastern Coast Off-shore Oilfields Petroleum and natural gas have been discovered in the basin and delta regions of Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri rivers. These oil fields are likely to contribute to about 3 to 4 million tons of crude oil every year.
Reserves of crude oil have also been discovered in Bilaspur (UP), Jawalamukhi (Punjab), Barmer (Rajasthan), etc.