The eighth oil and gas production plant of the country was inaugurated in Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas, in West Bengal by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan yesterday. While inaugurating the plant the Minister said the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ONGC found mineral oil and natural gas in Ashoknagar in 2016, and although there were some problems in land acquisition at first, it was later resolved.<br />'' <br />''North 24-Parganas has a huge potential of both oil and gas and can prove a big boon for the economy of West Bengal, said Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan while dedicating Bengal Basin, to the nation.  ONGC would invest Rs 425 crore in new exploration in the next two years in the basin. It has already invested Rs 3,400 crore for developing the producing block in North 24-Parganas in the last two years.<br />'' <br />''The crude from this block will be refined from Haldia refinery of Indian Oil. The Minister also made it clear that land acquisition for new exploration would be done with the help of local government and as per its rules and regulations. The Union Minister appealed to the local people to cooperate in this work. <br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Bengal basin is estimated to spread over 1.22 lakh sq km with nearly two-third of it falling under the waters of the Bay of Bengal is bigger than Assam Arakan Basin, Kuchh Basin and KG Basin and equivalent to Rajasthan Basin. The exploration in Bengal basin was started in 1949 and after seven decades, commercially proven reserves were found.</span><br />