Green panel defers RIL proposal to develop Cambay Basin

A committee under the Ministry of Environment and Forests has deferred a proposal by Reliance Industries to develop an oil and gas block at Cambay Basin, saying the company has not submitted the public hearing report in one of the districts where the field is located.

Reliance has proposed developing an onshore Block CB-ONN-2003/1 (Part A & B) for production of onland crude oil (up to 20,000 bpd) and natural gas at Cambay Basin, Gujarat.

Part A Block is located in Ahmedabad and Part B in Anand.

According to the Expert Appraisal Committee under the Ministry, the public hearing report has been submitted only for one district, Anand.

"The committee noted that blocks are located in two districts i.e. Ahmedabad and Anand. However, the public hearing report has been submitted for only one district i.e.

Anand. Further, the committee desired to submit recent public hearing report conducted for Ahmedabad district. After deliberations, the committee desired following additional information...." EAC said in its report.

"(RIL has to submit) copy of recent public hearing report conducted for Ahmadabad district and certified compliance report from the Ministrys regional office at Bhopal for the existing environmental clearance. The proposal is deferred till the desired information is submitted," the EAC said in its note.

The production sharing contract (PSC) has been awarded to RIL by the central government for the block under NELP-V for exploration and production of hydrocarbon.

Significant quantities of hydrocarbon have been discovered for explanation from the block named as Dhirubhai-43 and the discovery was notified by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in March 2009, the EAC said.

The committee also said issues raised during the public hearing regarding excess land requirement for the project, land acquisition, ground water, type of mud to be used, rig collapse at Ankleshwar site, primary health care facilities, greenbelt, Pariyez bird sanctuary etc have satisfactorily been responded by the company and incorporated in the final EIA/EMP report.