June 17, 1961:
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY
It.. It was to the big powers that
S h r i G S Jha appealed, the b i g
powers w h i c h were l i n k e d w i t h
P o r t u g a l i n m i l i t a r y alliance- H e
pointed out that same of the wes-
t e r n , powers had already realised
Chat colonialism could not be iden-
t i l t e d w i t h N A T O m i d h e hoped
that o t t e r s too w o u l d realise i t .
V i o l e n t l y denying the myth that
Angola was Portugal's overseas
province, S h r i Jha u r g e d P o r t u -
gal's friends and allies. to c u r b that
nation. Portuguese colonial rule
sought sustenance f r o m Portugal's
"allies who, under the cover of
N A T O membership, p u t up a front
o f support for Portugal even i n
the U N .
On the other side, there are the
A f r i c a n Stales led by Congo and
Ghana w h i c h are not prepared to
w a i l for gentle pressure to be put
on Portugal to make this mad
c o u n t r y desist f r o m e x t e r m i n a t i n g
Oil Strikes and Sick Wells
TO Ankleshwar and Cambay.
K a l o l is now added as a t h i r d
o i l f i e l d i n Gujarat. T h e small t o w n
of K a l o l , w h i c h has become famous
overnight, f o l l o w i n g the strike of
o i l , is 15'miles north of Ahmedabdd.
T h e proposed capital of Gujarat,
Gandinagar, lies in an adjacent area
a n d , f o l l o w i n g the successful strike
o f o i l i n K a l o l , the O i l and Natural
Gas Commission has pinned two
more d r i l l i n g points r i g h t i n Gandi-
nagar. The recent finds, in short,
more than substantiate the claim of
S h r i K D M a l a v i y a , M i n i s t e r for
Mines and O i l , that the speed of
discovery has definitely proved
faster than the resources that have
been available to the O i l and Natu-
r a l Gas Commission f o r the pros-
peering and development o f o i l .
T h e entire area, several h u n d r e d
square miles on the proposed site of
the new capital of Gujarat, seems
honey-combed by small or b i g struc-
tures where o i l can very hopefully
be searched and Gujarat w i l l have
to look f o r another location for its
c a p i t a l . The O i l and N a t u r a l Gas
Commission intends to carry out i n -
tensive search for o i l in about 400
square miles round about Kalol.
There are so many other areas to be
explored.
Indeed, the inadequacy of re-
sources far prospecting and develop-
ment of o i l has been increasingly
their fellow-Africans. The Afro- The O i l Mission w h i c h S h r i M a l a -
v i y a j i is leading to Europe is not,
A s i a n members of the U N today
are a force to contend w i t h ; but, therefore, g o i n g too soon. Some-
t h i n g has to he done pretty q u i c k l y
they a r e not yet strong enough to
m a k e their intervention effective. to reduce the incidence of sickness
among the o i l wells and to p u t the
T h e r e is no question about whole t h i n g on a smoothly-function-
I n d i a a sympathy in this or any i n g and efficient basis. The p r o b l e m
other colonial conflict. But the is difficult and complex, ft is not
p a t h of moderation that she has easy to ensure team work w i t h Kus-
f o l l o w e d , sometimes, makes her sian and Rumanian technicians -
p o r t i o n i n the Afro-Asian camp each used to their own ways and
habit noted to w o r k i n g w i t h equip-
less effective than it could be. The
ment and materials which are not
United Nations has not finished
with Portugal yet, Angola will readily available here.
aoon be back before both the Coun- These immediate problems apart,
cil and the Assembly, when the now that the prospects of finding
Commission reports back to both. oil in adequate quantities have been
But one wonders what w i l t it mean so well established, no time should
in effect, f o r . Portugal has no in- be lost in w o r k i n g out satisfactory
tention of recognising or h o n o u r i n g arrangements for surveying the d i f -
the United Nations' directives and ferent fields in the country. T h e
the H N has not yet got an answer need for explorations is now being
to such upon defiance of its au- felt in the other States also. West
thority. Rengal has proposed to the O i l a n d
Natural Gas Commission |o take up
explorations in areas not covered by
the Stanvac project, w h i c h had prov-
ed a failure, it is only by f a r m i n g
becoming evident. It is, therefore, out all the areas which bold any
g r a t i f y i n g to learn that the M i n i - promise for o i l to a number of d i f -
stry has successfully negotiated an ferent agencies that exploration of
agreement w i t h the tl IN I for pros- all likely areas can be ensured. If
pceting and development in K n l c l i , the Government is careful to f a r m
another p r o m i s i n g area, w h i c h the out such contracts on satisfactory
O i l and Natural Gas Commission has terms, keeping final control in its
not been able to touch yet. In fact own hands, it can gain f r o m the ex-
the Commission has its hands more perience of others, find out for it-
than f u l l . even the test wells near self with little or no cost, w h i c h
Barocla which have been found to type of exploitation offers the m a x i -
be p r o m i s i n g remain to be d r i l l e d . m u m advantage.
Now that the expert -commitlee ha;-
selected the site for the Gujarul re-
finery at K o y l e , 8 miles f r o m Haro-
da, a more intensive and energetic
development of this area has gained
immediate importance. P r o x i m i t y
to the M a h i river which is only 5
miles away and its location about
mid-way between Cambay and A n -
kleshwar favoured its selection as
site of the refinery,
There are some s t r i k i n g features
about o i l exploration i n Ankleshwar.
and p r o b a b l y of the other o i l fields
in Gujarat also, w h i c h have not
been adequately publicised. Now-
where else, except in areas of pro-
ven reserves, have, such a large pro-
p o r t i o n of d r i l l s proved successful;
nowhere else perhaps has the inci-
dence of sickness among the o i l
wells sunk been greater. Nearly
every w e l l sunk has yielded o i l ; and
nearly every one of the wells is
'sick', for one reason or another.
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