Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the Oil India Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday , ahead of the prospective excavation of oil from areas in and around Diphu, headquarter town of Karbi Anglong autonomous district.

OIL will basically explore the Dhansari and Daldali reserve forest areas and a private land located within Mon Timung village at the initial stage. According to the survey 396 square areas of NELP Block AAN 2010/2 will be explored for petroleum and natural gas. OIL has claimed the possibility of huge deposits of hydrocarbon components below the crust in that location.

OIL and the council authority will probably wait for forest and environment authorities clearance as the surveyed operational area completed through Oil India Limited shows that the assessment area is heavy with the possibilities of contravention of Forests and Environmental regulation and some local socio political issues as well.

The MoU signing  was held at the conference hall of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council’s old Secretariat building. Principal Secretary of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council Mukul Saikia signed the accord on behalf of the council while Manas Sharma Executive Director of Oil India Limited signed on behalf of OIL.

The accord was executed in presence of Chief Executive Member of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council Tuliram Ronghang, Member of Lok Sabha from Diphu constituency Horensing Bey, MLA Bidyasing Engleng, Rupsing Teron, all Executive Members of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, and Secretary in charge Hydrocarbon Mukul Kathar and other secretaries of the council.

 On behalf of the Oil India Limited, senior executives beside Manas Sharma present were Retired Executive Director of OIL Indrajit Barua, Chief Executive Manager Ajit Kumar Barua, Chief Manager Khonin Buragohain, Deputy Manager Gautam Hazurika and Manager Ranjit Das. The MoU will remain effective for a period of two years which will be extended in convenience of both the parties in future.

The cardinal features of the agreement are, Oil India Limited will deposit the compensation money against land revenue and forest land to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council authority while the council shall hand over the possession of land at the earliest. In this matter Chief Executive Member of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council Tuliram Ronghang assured the OIL authority that transmission of land for hydrocarbon exploitation will be done within three days time.

The other cardinal issues on which the autonomous council and the OIL came to understanding are, forest royalty will go to the council coffer while the government of Assam will get the royalty against oil. All unskilled and semiskilled workers will be appointed in the oil field according to the list provided by the council authority; necessary training will be provided by the OIL to the on-job-workers,  training institutes will be established by OIL in this district for training the workers. OIL has also agreed to carry out developmental works for public welfare in the autonomous district.

Manas Sharma, Executive Director of Oil India Limited described the MoU as an important milestone towards oil management in Assam. He informed that after completion of the civil works in the targeted areas drilling will begin and based on the appraisal of the measure of excavated crude petroleum scheme of shipping the crude to Numoligarh refinery will be decided. He mentioned that if needed a pipe line will be established between the drilling site and the refinery obtaining permission from the Government of India.         

 The official confirmation of the petroleum deposit came on February 5, 2016 when Duliajan based Oil India officials apprised the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the district administration after two days meeting and the autonomous council authority agreed on principle to go ahead with the OIL’s proposal.

It all came out in public domain in 2016. The petroliferous locations identified by the survey team in the eastern part of Diphu are Dilaji, Doldoli, Dhansiri, Rongapahar and Maisibailam areas of Assam-Arakan basin on the Naga-Schuppen belt.

 The political clique of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the district administration assured to provide full support in the hydrocarbon extraction process and now the Memorandum of Understanding. If all goes well it can be expected that the petroleum exploitation consequently will help to boost the socio-economic condition of the district as a whole.

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