Oil has been struck in Bombay High. An official announcement tonight said that oil is flowing out of the first well drilled in this promising offshore structure under considerable pressure. The pressure of oil flowing out is given as 600 pounds per square inch indicating presumably commercially exploitable reserves.
A group of pressmen who landed on the helipad of Sagar Samrat after 75 minute flights by IAF helicopters from Santa Cruz airport watched young Indian drillers, engineers, geologists, and chemists working 12 hours per day through 14 days at a stretch collecting, analysing and processing every piece of rock and ‘mud’ thrown out by the massive drilling bits for traces of oil or gas.
Even as traces of oil were found in Bombay High, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission met at its Dehra Dun headquarters to chalk out programme to accelerate oil exploration both offshore and onshore.
Minister for Petroleum and Chemicals, Mr. D. K. Barooah, told the Lok Sabha at question-time that the Arab countries had treated India as a friendly nation and had not cut off supplies to India as they had done in the case of some western countries. Besides some Arab countries had given India some cushion.
