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78 INDIA'S HYDROCARBON OUTLOOK 2024-2025

4 4.1 Historical Perspective

Oil and Gas Industry is one of the most data-rich
industries and upstream data, that is, Exploration
& Production (E&P) data is a significant part of it.
Historical and new data have always been crucial
to the success of any E&P project. Throughout E&P
lifecycle, huge amount of data is continuously
Fuelling India’s generated during the planning, exploration,
field development, and management phases.
E&P Activities The industry has recognized the importance
of leveraging data for making key business
decisions from the early days of exploration.
with DATA India has a rich history of E&P activity dating

back to the 19th century. Methodical E&P activity
began after the first commercially successful
well was discovered in Digboi, Assam, in 1889
through the first oil discovery in independent
India was made by Assam Oil Company Limited
(AOC) in Nahorkatiya in 1953, followed by Moran
in 1956, both in upper Assam. AOC was later
incorporated into Oil India Private Limited in 1959,
which became Oil India Limited (OIL) as a PSU
(in 1981) to increase the pace of exploration and
production in Assam. In 1959, the Government
set up Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC),
which intensified and spread exploration to
various parts of the country. ONGC systematically
started geophysical surveys in other sedimentary
basins considered prospective, resulting in the
discovery of the Ankleshwar oil field in Gujarat
in 1960.
Offshore exploration in India was initiated with
the experimental seismic survey in the Gulf of
Cambay in 1962 and later in the western offshore.
Detailed seismic surveys in the western offshore