Undeterred by the failed attempts to strike oil and gas in the Kerala-Konkan basin, researchers of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) are planning to search for Rare Earth Elements (REE) in the basin.
Geoscientists of the corporation would set sail for the offshore areas in the basin for geological field workshops once the weather turns conducive. The exploratory works, which are expected to begin in three months, will be concluded before the onset of the southwest monsoon when the weather turns rough.
The ONGC is looking for the presence of rare metals like lithium, which are of great industrial demand, from the 19 wells it had abandoned earlier in the Kerala-Konkan basin where the researchers had failed to hit oil and gas, Sushma Rawat, director (exploration) of ONGC told The Hindu.
