Assam’s crude oil

It is a matter of pride that Assam’s estimated crude oil reserve is second only to the Western Offshore in terms of volume. A front-page news story in the Sunday edition of this newspaper said Assam’s estimated crude oil reserve, according to “Energy Statistics India 2024,” published by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, stood at 23 percent of the total reserves in the country. In comparison, the crude oil reserve in the Western Offshore area is said to be 33 percent of the total volume in the country. The same report has said that the estimated reserves of crude oil in India as of April 1, 2023, stood at 653.02 million metric tonnes against 591.92 million metric tonnes in the previous year, which is an encouraging increase of over 10 percent over last year. Assam’s position as far as natural gas reserves are concerned is also satisfactory, being second in the country with 14.37 percent of the country’s total reserves, which, as of April 1, 2023, stood at an estimated reserve of 1149.46 billion cubic metres. Looking back, Assam can take pride in the fact that it was here that both petroleum and natural gas were first discovered in the entire country. As far as petroleum is concerned, Lieutenant R Wilcox, an officer of the British East India Company’s army, during the operation to drive out the Burmese invaders from Assam in the 1820s, first witnessed “rising to the surface at Supkhong (beside the Burhi Dihing river beyond Namchik) with great bubbling of gas and green petroleum.” What is significant is that the news of Assam’s petroleum and natural gas reserves occupying the second spot after the Western Offshore has come at a time when there are reports about some very important offices of Oil India Ltd. being shifted out of Assam. While the report was immediately dismissed, it is probably important for the present government in the state to constantly monitor the oil and tea industry’s activities and developments for a couple of specific reasons. First and foremost, the oil companies must perform efficiently and without any hindrance from groups that often target them for the purpose of extortion. And secondly, the state government must keep an eye out so that qualified and efficient local talents are not deprived in matters of recruitment. It is also the job of the state government to ensure that the CSR funds of the oil companies operating in Assam are adequately disbursed in the region.