Safety zone clarity for PMLs
ONGC and Oil India are relieved to have finally received a clarification on what constitutes a safety zone - eight years after the environment ministry declared that all PMLs must have them.
"A safety zone of 7.5-metre wide strip along the inner boundary of impact areas of a drilling borehole(s) or oil well pad shall be maintained by the user agency as a green belt by undertaking plantations or allowing the natural regeneration to come up," says a single-page letter from environment ministry scientist Charan Jeet Singh to the Shillong-based deputy director general of forests Ms Imetienla Ao on November 3 (2023). "In addition, the hazardous zone around the bore well, oil pads or pipelines or other ancillary infrastructure should be maintained by the various user agencies engaged in the mining or transporting of mineral oil as per the norms stipulated in the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948."
In May 2015, the environment ministry demanded that safety zones be maintained in PMLs. But did these safety zones cover the entire PMLS? ONGC and Oil India were not clear.
Oil India asked for clarification in a letter to the environment ministry on August 30 (2023), supported by another letter from the DGH on September 25 (2023). In his November 3 (2023) letter, Singh said: "After examination of the matter in the ministry, it was observed that given the large areas involved in the PMLs, it may not be prudent to maintain a safety zone around the entire mining lease like conventional mining leases granted under the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957; keeping in view the hazardous effects of the mining of mineral oil in the absence of proper upkeep and management, it is mandatory to comply with the safety norms as prescribed under the Petroleum and Natural Gas (Safety in Offshore Operations) Rules, 2008 in the impact zone of the bore well area."