A very relieving news has emerged from the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. Oil India Limited has set a new record of crude oil production in this hot desert. This success will not only strengthen the energy security of the country, but is also expected to reduce our heavy dependence on foreign oil.
‘Black gold’ emerging from the sand
The company has achieved excellent results from the Bagewala field located in the Bikaner-Nagaur area of the Rajasthan Basin. According to official figures, Jodhpur Sandstone Formation is now producing 1,202 barrels of crude oil per day. This figure is about 70 percent more than last year’s 705 barrels per day. If we look at the annual production for the financial year 2025-26, 43,773 metric tons of crude oil has been extracted from here, whereas last year this production was 32,787 metric tons. After coming out of the ground, this crude oil is taken through tankers to ONGC facilities located in Mehsana, Gujarat. From there it is transported through pipeline to the coal refinery of IOCL, where it is refined for our use.
Amazing new technologies
The geological conditions in the Thar region are extremely complex. The crude oil found here is not liquid like normal oil, but is very thick and sticky (heavy oil). It was almost impossible to remove it using traditional and old methods. To overcome this bottleneck, Oil India used a state-of-the-art thermal enhanced oil recovery technology called Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS). It was only tested in 2018, but now this technology has become the backbone of large-scale production. The company has also used modern technologies like fishbone drilling and barefoot completion for the first time in India’s heavy oil sector. Additionally, the use of dilution injection, electric downhole heaters and high temperature thermal wellheads facilitated this difficult production.
This field was discovered in 1991
Bagewala field was discovered in the year 1991 and is spread over a vast area of about 200.26 square kilometers. However, the work of extracting oil from here started only in 2017. A total of 52 wells are present in this field, out of which currently 33 wells are actively working. To maintain this fast pace of production, the company has successfully completed CSS operations in 19 wells this year (which is 72% more than last year) and has also drilled 13 new wells.