A well in Saihal village of Sadar sub-division in Balh Valley of this district is oozing crude oil in large quantity. The owner of the well was surprised to see oil in the water and brought a sample of the water to the SDM Mandi, who has sent it to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Dehradun for further investigation.
It may be recalled the ONGC had started the spudding of a well in village Dhaban in search of oil, also in Balh Valley near Mandi, but after draining Rs 100 crore after digging up to the depth of 5100 meters the operation was abandoned.
Initially the budget allocation was of Rs 42 crore, but due to inordinate delay in its execution it escalated to Rs 100 crore. Disappointment loomed large in the valley among the people of Balh when the operation oil search was closed. The valley at that time was humming with activities with hundreds of engineers and scientists engaged in oil exploration.
Even now some geologists are confident about the presence of huge deposits of oil in the valley, but they feel the selection of the digging site was not identified properly. The floating of oil at about 25 feet from the ground-level strengthens the belief of existence of oil in Balh Valley, they assert.
It is notable that the spudding in village Dhaban had been launched after year-long exploration by the geo-scientists of the ONGC, who had confirmed positive results. Furthermore, geological and geophysical surveys and seismic assessment had also indicated positive oil deposits of 5,050 meters down the earth.
On the day of spudding hundreds of scientists, engineers, geologists and dignitaries from across the country had been invited to celebrate the occasion with a bang.
The ONGC scientists and others converged on the occasion were brimming with joy and enthusiasm. The upgraded electric rigs-2000-VIII had been requisitioned from Bangladesh to carry out drilling on a war-footing.
Although the ONGC had winded up the operation oil exploration in Dhaban village of Balh Valley way back on May 15, 2004, the profuse seepage of crude oil exuding from the crevices of the walls of the well confirms that the year-long massive survey and exploration by the geo-scientists confirming huge deposits of oil were correct and only the identification of the spot where drilling was to be undertaken was probably wrong.
The present site where oil is oozing from the walls of the well in village Saihal is about 15 km away from Dhaban village where digging had been done in 2003-2004.