Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has launched a massive exploration drive for gas extraction in Tripura to meet the requirement of 726 MW gas-based thermal power project at Palatana in South Tripura, which is scheduled to start power generation by December 2012, official sources said on Thursday.

Recently, the company's Director, Mr U N Bose, had reviewed the progress of activities and visited the Palatana project site.

The company has set a target to produce six million metric standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas by 2012, to meet the requirements of the project and has also decided to drill two more gas well within the stipulated time (2012). Last year, ONGC had discovered two major gas wells.

Palatana power plant

ONGC-Tripura Power Corporation (OTPC) is trying to install heavy equipment for the 726 MW mega thermal power plant at Palatana despite heavy rains and communication bottlenecks, sources said.

Two makeshift bridges, commonly known as bypass, which were built on the rivers Hawra in Agartala and Gomati in South Tripura district, were washed away due to heavy rains last week, creating bottlenecks for transportation of the turbines and heavy equipments to the project site.

Due to the collapse of the bridges, transportation of 280 tonne turbine has became difficult but ONGC is trying to rebuild the bridges before the monsoon sets in, to start generation by the end of December 2012, sources said.

The initially estimated project cost of nearly Rs 8,000 crore has already gone up to Rs 9,000 crore because of the delay, sources added.

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