Neduvasal Hydrocarbon Project Controversy

Farmer and community protests against an ONGC Limited hydrocarbon project in the Cauvery delta region for Neduvasal have been going on since 2017. According to the state administration, the Neduvasal area will be covered by the Protected Special Agricultural Zone in 2020. Non-agricultural developments are prohibited in the Pudukkottai district of the Tamil Nadu region as a result of this government mandate. Although protesters have spoken to them and learned about oil discovery and production, they do not know what is happening in Neduvasal.

About the Project 

It’s essential to look at the history of oil production in the Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, and the Pudukkottai districts of Tamil Nadu. As a result of the increased extraction of hydrocarbons, farmers in this area have expressed concern. The excellent delta soil and plentiful groundwater in Neduvasal make it an attractive location for farmers.

You may find more than 200 ONGC oil sources and the associated setup within the 100-kilometre radius near Neduvasal. There have been poor results when ONGC has been responsible for these types of wells. Ruined irrigation systems, ruined crops, and contaminated local water supplies were all the effects of the crude oil leaks in the Nagapattinam region between 2010 and 2012.

In India’s Cauvery Delta, fields are rarely recovered or paid for, even after lengthy complaints. Farmers’ rights activists many times express this concern. For a region damaged by oil to recover, it could take years for redevelopment.

According to Dhanapalan, those who believe that oil and gas production is advantageous to the environment will have no objections. Farmers who have been harmed and those who have already been paid must be compensated again so that hydrocarbons can be extracted safely.

The Pudukkottai district is mentioned in only one environmental clearance. Here’s another from last year. Pudukottai’s Tiruvonam and Paramakudi are the main focus of this storyline. Neduvasal is not mentioned.

What’s The Status of The Project?

On December 31, 2019, a mining lease for an oil field will expire. The oil and gas contractor has access to ten square kilometres of leased land. With the Marginal Field Policy, the private sector is encouraged to assist in the discovery and development of smaller oil reserves.

There will be no shale gas or coal bed methane extraction in this project. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking,” is not likely to be employed anytime soon.

According to the News Minute, Gem Labs hasn’t yet decided how to remove hydrocarbons from the environment. Onshore wells in the particular Cauvery delta will be between 1,750 and 6,000 metres deep for exploration and production. 

Because We Know Where the Hydrocarbons Are, Why Is it so Difficult to Get Them From the Ground?

• To learn about the reservoir’s size and qualities, many exploratory drilling operations occur before a producing well is drilled
•  A 10-square-kilometre lease territory will be established after Neduvasal is completed
• A relatively modest quantity of land will be purchased or released for the proposed drilling.
•  A minimum of five acres of land is required for each drilling site. We have no idea how many there are or where they are placed
• Some wells may need to be upgraded or disposed of in the future
• Digging to the reservoir’s bottom is very important for production. During the earliest production phases, oil and gas automatically go to the top since the pressures are so different
•  At this early stage, just 10 to 15% of the overall saves can be retrieved back and forth.
• High-pressure fluids and more complex particles like sand or aluminium beads can be employed in tertiary or improved recovery procedures to break up the source rock so that hydrocarbons can flow through

Controversy

• More than 200 ONGC-maintained oil wells and associated infrastructure can be found within a 100-kilometre radius of Neduvasal. When ONGC operated these wells, the results were less than stellar
• Fields in Nagapattinam were destroyed and poisoned by crude oil spills from pipes under the soil in 2010-11, 2011-12
• For fields devastated by oil leaks, Dhanapalan claims that farmers are only compensated with what he calls a “meagre” amount of money. Recovering oil-damaged areas may take many years
• Residents in neighbouring towns have become more concerned about gas leaks and potential fires in residential areas
• Farmers show up in significant numbers at ONGC public hearings to express their opposition to the company’s plans for expansion or additional drilling
•  At public hearings, it was clear that ONGC had failed to follow environmental standards and that the district administration and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board were not enforcing those regulations either
•  Farmers in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, raised concerns about contaminated farmland, air and water pollution, groundwater depletion, respiratory sickness, and compensation inconsistencies at a public hearing in 2014
• Indian farmers damaged an ONGC shed in 2015 because of prior gas leaks and ONGC’s terrible reputation in Tiruvarur
• According to Dhanapalan, environmentalists will not resist oil and gas extraction if they believe it won’t harm the environment
•  To prove that hydrocarbon mining can be done safely, the government of this country needs to restore and compensate farmers whose land has been damaged due to the mining process. 

Conclusion:

ONGC, which works in the delta, maintains that there are 21 effluent treatment plants (ETPs) that can manage 70 ml/d. Some of this clean water is pumped back into the ground or placed into injection wells to flood hydrocarbon reserves. Deep well injection for throwing away or flooding is supervised and watched in areas other than the United States.

In India, the manner water is made is looked at with distrust. In the EIA reports, there was only one mention of the waste stream, but there should have been an entire section on anticipating and keeping an eye on the effects of the water. The public can’t see how well these ETPs are doing either.