State-owned ONGC will start drilling from August at two locations in Bihar's Kishanganj district to look for oil and natural gas, officials said on Saturday.
An official in the Bihar chief minister's office said the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had decided to commence drilling in Kishanganj from next month.
"After an extensive survey, ONGC is ready to go ahead with the exploration in Kishanganj, one of the poorest districts in the state," the official, who did not want to be named, said.
Earlier this year, ONGC had announced a Rs.200 crore investment in two oil and gas projects in the district.
ONGC did hydrocarbon exploration till the 1990s and restarted exploration in 2007-2008 in Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj and Katihar districts.
"It has identified two places for drilling to explore oil and natural gas," an ONGC official said.