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Baart sarkar

Payaa-varNa evaM vana maM~alaya

Government of India

Ministry of Environment & Forests

(IA Division)

Paryavaran Bhawan

CGO Complex, Lodhi Road

New Delhi – 110 003

                        E-mail: hsmalviya@gmail.com

      Telephone: 011: 2436 7076

F. No. J-11011/213/2008-IA-II(I)                                                                                                                                                            Dated : June 11, 2008

To

M/s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd

Office of Basin Manager,

2nd Floor, Luit Bhavan,

Cinnamara Complex, Jorhat – 785704

 

Singhharendra2@rediffmail.com, singh_harender@ongc.com

 

Sub:     Onshore Exploratory Drilling of 67 wells for Oil and Gas in Agartala, Dome-Baramura-Khowai-Kalyanpur-Kunjaban-Gojalia-Tulamura-Sundalbari-Sonamura- Konaban-Manikyanagar-Tichna areas, District West and South Tripura, Tripura by M/s ONGC -- reg environmental clearance.   

Sir,      

            This has reference to your letter no. No. ONGC/CHSE/NEERI/EC/2008 dated 5th February 2008 alongwith Form-I and project pre-feasibility report seeking environmental clearance under EIA Notification, 2006.

2.         The Ministry of Environment and Forests has examined the application. It is noted that the proposal is for  environmental clearance for Onshore Exploratory Drilling of 67 wells for Oil and Gas in Agartala, Dome-Baramura-Khowai-Kalyanpur-Kunjaban-Gojalia-Tulamura-Sundalbari-Sonamura- Konaban-Manikyanagar-Tichna areas, District West and South Tripura, Tripura by M/s ONGC.  The proposal is for exploratory drilling of 67 wells in three PEL Blocks, namely, North  Agartala PEL, Large area PEL and West Tripura PEL covering area of 3682 Sq. Km. The prospective areas have mainly gas reservoirs which are established at the depth of 2800 to 4000 mts. The cost of project for drilling of the 67 wells will be about Rs. 1507.5 Crores. Area of each drill site will be 1.80 hectare, which will be acquired on lease. Land of drill site area will be restored after completion of drilling and while leaving site. Water requirement will be approx. 35-50 m3/day and will be met from deep tube wells. Only water based drilling fluid will be used. About 300-425 m3/well of drill cuttings will be generated and the cuttings including wash water shall be collected in disposal pit and disposed as per statutory guidelines. 3 or 4 Nos. of DG sets will be installed and two will be used at a time. HSD 4 Kl/day will be required as fuel.

 

3.         All the onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production activities are listed at 1(b) under ‘A’ category in the Schedule of EIA Notification, 2006. The proposal appraised in 81st meeting of the Expert appraisal Committee (Industry) held during 12th - 14th May 2008 at central level under para 7(ii) requiring no public hearing/public consultation and EIA/EMP.

 

4.         The Ministry of Environment and Forests hereby accords environmental clearance to the above project under the provisions of EIA Notification, 2006 subject to compliance of the following Specific and General Conditions. 

 

A.        SPECIFIC CONDITIONS:

 

i.                     Compensation for the land acquisition to the land oustees (if any) and for standing crop shall be paid as per the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy (NRRP) 2007/State Government norms. It may be ensure that compensation provided shall not be less than the norms of the NRRP 2007.

 

ii.                   The company shall obtain forest clearance under Forests Conservation Act 1980 for the sites located within the forest areas.

 

iii.                  The company shall obtain permission to establish under Air and water acts from State Pollution Control Board for each well and copy submitted to Ministry’s Regional Office at Shillong.

 

iv.                 The company shall inform the details of the each drill site to Ministry’s Regional Office at Shillong.

 

v.                   The company shall make the arrangement for control of noise from the drilling activity and from DG sets.

 

vi.                 The company shall comply with the guidelines for disposal of solid waste, drill cutting and drilling fluids for onshore drilling operation notified vide  GSR.546(E) dated 30th August, 2005.

 

vii.                 The surface facilities shall be installed as per applicable codes and standards, international practices and applicable local regulations.

 

viii.              The top soil removed shall be stacked separately for reuse during restoration process.

 

ix.                 Drilling waste water including drill cuttings wash water shall be collected in disposal pit lined with HDPE lining evaporated or treated and shall comply with the notified standards for on-shore disposal. The membership of common TSDF shall be obtained for the disposal of drill cuttings and hazardous waste. Otherwise secured land fill shall be created at the site as per the design of the secured shall be approved by the CPCB and obtain the authorization of the SPCB. Copy of authorization or membership of TSDF shall be submitted to Ministry’s Regional Office.

 

x.                   The company shall construct the garland drain all around the drilling site to prevent runoff of any oil containing waste in to the nearby water bodies.

 

xi.                 The recyclable waste (oily sludge) and spent oil shall be disposed of to the authorized recyclers.

 

xii.                Only water based drilling mud shall be used. The drilling mud shall be recycled. In case of use of synthetic oil based mud due to any problem due to geological formation for drilling, low toxicity, Oil Based Mud (OBM) having aromatic content < 1 % shall be used. If it is intended to use such OBM/SBM to mitigate specific hole problem, it should be intimated to Ministry of Environment and Forests/ SPCB.

 

xiii.              Quantities of storage and chemicals and additives required for drilling mud preparation shall be below the specified threshold for specified storage permitted under the MSIHC Rules.

 

xiv.              Pre hire rig inspection, safety meetings, tool box meeting, job safety analysis and audits shall be carried out to identify hidden /potential hazardous.

 

xv.               The Company shall take necessary measures to prevent fire hazards, containing oil spill and soil remediation as needed. At place of ground flaring, the overhead flaring stack with knockout drums shall be installed to minimize gaseous emissions during flaring.

 

xvi.              The Company shall take necessary measures to reduce noise levels at the drill site by providing mitigation measures such as proper acoustic enclosures to the DG set and meet the norms notified by the MoEF.  Height of all the stacks/vents shall be provided as per the CPCB guidelines.

 

xvii.            To prevent fire and explosion at Oil and Gas facility, potential ignition sources should be kept to a minimum and adequate separation distance between potential ignition sources and flammable material should be in place.

 

xviii.           The company shall develop a contingency plan for H2S release including all necessary aspects from evacuation to resumption of normal operations. The workers should be provided with personal H2S detectors in locations of high risk of exposure along with self containing breathing apparatus.

 

xix.              To prevent well blowouts during drilling operations, Blow Out Preventor (BOP) system shall be installed. Blow Out Prevention measures during drilling shall focus on maintaining well bore hydrostatic pressure by proper pre-well planning and drilling fluid logging etc.

 

xx.               The company shall take measures after completion of drilling process by well plugging and secured enclosures, decommissioning of rig upon abandonment of the well and drilling site shall be restored the are in original condition. In the event that no economic quantity of hydrocarbon is found a full abandonment plan shall be implemented for the drilling site in accordance with the applicable Indian Petroleum Regulations.

 

xxi.              Occupational health surveillance of the workers shall be carried out as per the prevailing Acts and Rules.

 

xxii.            In case the commercial viability of the project is established, the Company shall prepare a detailed plan for development of oil and gas fields and obtain fresh clearance from the Ministry.

 

B.         GENERAL CONDITIONS:

 

i.                     The project authorities must strictly adhere to the stipulations made by the State Pollution Control Board, the State Government and any other statutory.

 

ii.                   No further expansion or modification in the project shall be carried out without prior approval of the Ministry of Environment & Forests. In case of deviations or alterations in the project proposal from those submitted to this Ministry for clearance, a fresh reference shall be made to the Ministry to assess the adequacy of conditions imposed and to add additional environmental protection measures required, if any.

 

iii.                  The emissions of (RSPM, SPM, SO2, NOx, HC & VOC) from DG Set and from flare stack shall conform to the standards prescribed by the SPCB. Regular monitoring of Ambient Air for HC and VOC shall be carried out as per CPCB guidelines. Stack height attached to DG sets shall be in-conformance with the environment protection acts and rules.

 

iv.                 The project authorities must strictly comply with the rules and regulations under Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous chemicals Rules, 1989 as amended subsequently. Prior approvals from Chief Inspectorate of Factories, Chief Controller of Explosives, Fire Safety Inspectorate etc. must be obtained, wherever applicable.

 

v.                   The project authorities must strictly comply with the rules and regulation with regard to handling and disposal of Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989/ 2003 wherever applicable. Authorization form the State Pollution Control Board must be obtained for collections/treatment/storage/disposal of hazardous wastes.

 

vi.                 The overall noise levels in and around the plant area shall be kept well within the standards by providing noise control measures including acoustic hoods, silencers, enclosures etc. on all sources of noise generation.  The ambient noise levels shall conform to the standards prescribed under EPA Rules, 1989 viz. 75 dBA (daytime) and 70 dBA (nighttime).

 

vii.                A separate Environmental Management Cell equipped with full fledged laboratory facilities must be set up to carry out the environmental management and monitoring functions.

 

viii.              The project authorities will provide adequate funds both recurring and non-recurring to implement the conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as the State Government along with the implementation schedule for all the conditions stipulated herein.  The funds so provided shall not be diverted for any other purposes.

 

ix.                 The Regional Office of this Ministry/Central Pollution Control Board/State Pollution Control Board will monitor the stipulated conditions.  A six monthly compliance report and the monitored data along with statistical interpretation shall be submitted to them regularly.

 

x.                   The Project Proponent shall inform the public that the project has been accorded environmental clearance by the Ministry and copies of the clearance letter are available with the State Pollution Control Board and may also be seen at Website of the Ministry and Forests at http://www.envfor.nic.in  This shall be advertised within seven days of the issue of this letter in at least two local newspapers that are widely circulated in the region of which one shall be in the vernacular language of the locality concerned.

 

xi.                 The Project Authorities shall inform the Regional Office as well as the Ministry, the date of financial closure and final approval of the project by the concerned authorities and the date of commencing the land development work.

 

5.         The Ministry may revoke or suspend the clearance, if implementation of any of the above conditions is not satisfactory.

 

6.         The Ministry reserves the right to stipulate additional conditions if found necessary. The Company in a time bound manner will implement these conditions.

 

7.         Any appeal against this environmental clearance shall lie with the National Environment Appellate Authority, if preferred within a period of 30 days as prescribed under Section 11 of the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997.

 

8.         The above conditions will be enforced, inter-alia under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Hazardous Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989, 2003 and the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 along with their amendments and rules.

 

 

 

(H.S. Malviya)

Joint Director

 

 

Copy to : 

 

1. The Secretary, Department of Environment, Science & Technology, Tripura Agartala.

2. Chief Conservator of Forests, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Regional Office (NEZ),Upland Road, Laitumkhrah, Shillong : 793 003, Meghalaya.

3. The Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board Parivesh Bhavan, CBD-cum-Office Complex, East Arjun Nagar, New Delhi - 110 032.

4. The Chairman, Tripura State Pollution Control Board, Agartala.

5. Monitoring Cell, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhavan, CGO

Complex, New Delhi.

6. Guard File.

7. Monitoring File.

8. Record File.

 

(H.S. Malviya)

Joint Director

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