CHAPTER-3

MINERAL RESOURCES AND APPLICATIONS

3.1. OIL & NATURAL GAS RESOURCES OF ASSAM

Assam is endowed with Petroleum, Natural Gas , Coal, Limestone and many other minor mineral
resources such as Quartzite, Kaolin , Silliminites , Clay, Feldspar, Granite, etc. Assam is the pioneer State
in the country as far as exploration and production of Petroleum is concerned. Asia’s first successful
mechanically drilled oil well was drilled in Makum in way back in 1867. The first commercial discovery
of oil was however, made in the year 1889 at Digboi and this also marked the beginning of Oil Industry in
India. In the year 1959, the Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) were set
up and since then, these two State owned companies have been continuously engaged in the exploration
and production of hydrocarbons in Assam and the North East.
Assam has over 1.3 billion tones of proven Crude oil and 156 billion cubic metre of Natural Gas
reserves. Assam accounts for about 16% of India’s Crude output and 8% of Natural Gas. The wells at
Digboi, Duliajan, Sivasagar, etc also produce Natural Gas accounting to about 50% of India’s total
Onshore production. Some recent data are given below:
Table:3.1
Number of Wells and metreage drilled in Assam ( Onshore)

Sl Year Wells (nos) Metreage ( 000)

1 2008-09 80 206
2 2009-10 63 259
3 2010-11 72 134

Table:3.2
Basin-wise Oil and Gas field in Assam
(As on 1-4-2011)
Fig:in Number

Company Basin Oil fields Gas Oil and gas Total fields
fields fields
A. Oil & Natural Gas Upper Assam 4 1 30 35
Corporation Ltd
A &AA 0 4 2 6
B. Oil India Ltd Upper Assam 0 0 14 14
C. Private/JVC Amguri 0 1 0 1
Total 4 6 46 56
 Table:3.3
Gross production of Natural Gas of Assam

Year Company Gross Re- Gas Percentage of Gas used Net

production injected flared gas flared for production
(million cubic petroleum
mtr) mining
operation
2008-09 OIL 2042.62 0 158.88 7.78 265.61 1618.13
ONGC 471.28 0 45.09 9.56 163.72 262.47
CRL* 59.33 0 2.16 3.64 1.16 56.01
Total 2573.23 0 206.13 8.01 430.49 1936.61
2009-10 OIL 2188.96 162.74 7.43 288.12 1738.10
ONGC 467.20 0 33.60 7.19 178.53 255.07
CRL 48.01 0 1.46 3.04 2.91 43.64
Total 2704.17 0 197.80 7.31 469.56 2036.81
2010-11 OIL 2178.07 0 158.89 7.29 291.72 1727.46
ONGC 462.24 0 30.79 6.66 169.53 261.92
CRL 36.50 0 0.08 0.22 2.23 34.19
Total 2676.81 0 189.76 7.08 463.48 2023.57
2011-12 OIL 2633.29 NA NA 5.94 NA NA
ONGC 474.1 NA NA NA NA NA
Total 3107.39 NA NA NA NA NA
CRL : Canoro Resources Ltd.
Source: Statistical Hand Book of Assam, 2011.

Table:3.4
Crude Production
2011-12

OIL 3.847 Million Matric Ton

ONGC 1.190 Million Matric Ton
Total 5.037 Million Matric Ton

The Crude produced in Assam is being supplied to four refineries in Assam, namely, Digboi,
Guwahati, Numaligarh & Bongaigaon through OIL’s 1157 km long trunk pipe line with 212 km looping
from Naharkatia to Barauni and 35 km of branch line from Naharkatia to Digboi. The imported Crude to
Bongaigaon refinery is also being supplied through OIL’s trunk pipe line. Gas being produced in Assam
is being supplied to Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation, ASEB, NEEPC, Assam Gas Company,
Tea gardens, etc.
Based on Natural Gas and Naptha, Assam Gas Cracker Plant (Brahmaputra Chemical and
Polymers Ltd-BCPL) is coming up at Lepetkata, Dibrugarh with an investment of Rs.9600 cr. The unit
will produce 220000 TPA HDPE/LLDPE and 60000 TPA of Polypropylene. It is expected that the project
will start its commercial production by end of 2013.
 Assam has 4 ( four) Oil refineries with a production capacity of 7 million tons. Production of Oil
of these refineries are given below:

Table : 3.5
Refinery Production in Assam
Fig: production in (000 tonne)
Sl Name of the Company Installed Production
no capacity 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
1 IOC, Guwahati, Assam 1000 1076 1078 1118
2 IOC, Digboi 650 623 600 651
3 IOC, Bongaigaon 2350 2163 2220 2008
4 NRL, Numaligarh 3000 2251 2619 2255
5 Assam Total 7000 6113 6517 6032
All India 187386 160772 192768 206154

3.2. Coal & Limestone resources

Assam is well endowed with mineral resources. Major minerals occurring in the State includes
Natural Gas, Petroleum, Coal, Limestone ,Granite, etc. Coal, Oil, Tea, textiles, Paper and Fertilizer are
the key industries of Assam. Economic deposits of Coal occur in the districts of Karbi-Anglong, Dima
Hasao, Tinsukia and Sivasagar.

3.2.A Coal
Within Assam, the coal reserves have been estimated as follows:
 Proved reserves – 259 Million Ton
 Indicated reserves – 27 Million Ton
 Inferred reserves – 34 Million Ton

Details of Coal reserve in Assam is at Annexure:3.1

3.2.1Utilization of Coal in Assam:

Following are the users of coal in Assam:

Present Users
Categories % use of Total production of Coal
Paper Industry 19%
Brick industry 40%
Cement Industry 4%
Tea 3%
Other including Coke industry 34%
 3.2.B Limestone
Limestone occurs primarily in the districts of Dima Hasao and Karbi-Anglong. The Limestone of
Dima Hasao is well exposed in the area along Garampani-Lanka road. Large exposures are found in
Umrangshu area.

The limestone reserves have been estimated as follows:

 Proved reserves – 166 Million Ton
 Indicated reserves – 488 Million Ton
 Inferred reserves – 49 Million Ton
TOTAL - 703 Million
Details of Limestone deposit in Assam is at Annexure-3.2
3.2.1 Industries based on Limestone:
Assam has 20 nos of hydrated/dehydrated lime factories to feed the requirement of local market.
The major market for these units are HPC Jagiroad & Panchgarm , IOC, PHE department, etc. Apart from
that based on Limestone of Assam & Meghalaya, 33 nos of Cement plants are now operating in Assam
with an installed capacity of 3223053 MT per annum. Another 4 (four) new Cement plants are under
various stages of construction.
4. China Clay:
The estimated China Clay reserves are 0.24 million tones with deposits in the Karbi-Anglong
district at:

Deopani : 1 million tone

Sheelvata : 58000 tonnes
Chilonijan : 175094 tonnes
5. Feldspar:
The feldspar of deposit of 13000 tonnes are found in the following areas:
Rangsali Goalpara
Hahim Kamrup
Koilajan Karbi-Anglong
6. Granite:
Reserves of Granite in Assam are about 10 billion cubic metre. The occurrence of this mineral is
found in the districts like Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Kamrup, Nagaon, Morigaon and Karbi-
Anglong.

7. Sillimanite
Sillimanite deposit is found in places like Chippinala, Chipriangso of Karbi-Anglong district.
Approximate deposit may be about 50 million tones. Chemical properties of these materials are as
follows:
Contain Al2O3 in grade-1 is about 58.4%, in Grade-2 is about 35.5% and in Grade-3 is about
13.05% respectively.
8. Quartzite:
Quartizite is found in places like Jiajuri, Thansjuri Hills, Borhola and Chapanala in Nagaon
district. Approximate deposit may be about 17 million tones.

9. White Clay (Fuller’s earth):

White clay is found in places like Subankhata & Bhutan Khuti of Baksa district. Approximate
deposit may be 20 million tone.