Team Blitz India
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has put on hold a seismic survey, scheduled to be carried out between the first week of March and July, in the Krishna-Godavari-DWN-98/2 block (Cluster-II), 65 km off Kakinada coast in the Eatern Offshore.
Spread over 7,294 square km, the block in the Krishna Godavari basin is located roughly 35 km off the Kakinada coast, where the maximum depth of water is 3,200 metres. The 98/2 block in Cluster2A contains reserves of 94.26 million metric tonnes (mmt) of crude oil and 21.75 billion cubic meters (BCM) of associated gas. The Cluster-2 B has an estimated gas reserve of 51.98 BCM.
In a meeting held here on March 11 with the ONGC, Kakinada Deep Seaport and Anchorage Port authorities and the people’s representatives, Kakinada Collector Krithika Shukla said that the ONGC had not carried out the seismic survey as of now and there would be no restrictions on the fishing activity along the Kakinada coast.
“We will soon request the Andhra Pradesh government to constitute an expert committee to assess the impact on the livelihood of the fisherfolk due to the proposed seismic survey,” said Shukla.
On March 11, Collector Shukla, SP S. Satish Kumar and ONGC official Sanjay Kumar told the fisherfolk and the people’s representatives that the survey had been put on hold. Kakinada City MLA D. Chandrasekhar Reddy, former MLA V. Kondababu and other officials were present in the meeting.
