Agartala, Feb. 20: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), will invest Rs 5,050 crore in Tripura to drill new gas wells and strengthen infrastructure to improve natural gas supply to thermal power units and for domestic purposes.

The increased gas supply will also pave the way for setting up gas-based industries in the state by the private sector.

ONGC (Tripura) corporate communication manager Sonalee Dutta said in 2008 the ONGC board had given green signal to invest Rs 1,946 crore in the ongoing projects here. On February 11, it sanctioned another Rs 3,104 crore for investment in the state. She said the Rs 5,050 crore would be used to dig 153 new wells across the state.

Dutta said new gas-gathering stations would be launched in Sonamura subdivision of Sipahijala district and Gazalia under Sabroom subdivision of South Tripura district. The capacity of existing gas-gathering stations in AD Nagar and Konaban in West Tripura and Sipahijala districts will also be increased. She said ONGC had traced 11 major gas-bearing zones across the state and only seven of them were being utilised for gas collection. "With the new investment, the remaining four zones will be explored and 153 new wells will be dug," she said.

Dutta said ONGC's aimed to increase the daily production of natural gas from 4.1 cubic metre to 5.1 cubic metre to take care of all kinds of gas requirements in the state for the next 15-20 years, including domestic consumption.

She said the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas had published a document, Hydro Carbon Mission-2030, on February 9. It aimed at development of the Northeast. Tripura is also likely to benefit from it, she added.