APPCB seeks ₹36.17 crore compensation from ONGC over Mori-5 well blowout, serves show-cause notice

Fire rages from ONGC well, Mori-5, at Irusumanda village of Malkipuram Mandal in Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema District on Monday.

The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board has served a show-cause notice to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), proposing environmental compensation of ₹36.17 crore for operating M/s.ONGC Well Mori-5 without obtaining mandatory environmental clearances for 12,057 days.

The APPCB probed the violation after a blowout due to a gas leak at the Mori-5 well at Irusumanda Village in Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema district on January 5, 2026.

In April, the APPCB’s Monitoring Committee learnt that ONGC had handed over the well to its Production Enhancement Contracts (PEC) contractor i.e., M/s Deep Exploratory Services Pvt Ltd in April 2025 for carrying out workover and production enhancement activities. Later, the Committee noted that M/s.ONGC Well Mori-5 is operating without obtaining mandatory environmental clearances and consents.

In a show-cause notice dated September 15, APPCB Member Secretary S. Srisaravanan stated; “The Board hereby issues a show-cause notice to M/s.ONGC Well Mori-5, as to why the Environmental Compensation of ₹36,17,10,000 shall not be levied on your facility, for operating the well in violation of consent conditions”. A copy of the show-cause notice is with The Hindu.

ONGC has been directed to submit its reply within 15 days of receiving the notice, failing which the environmental compensation of ₹36.17 crore would be imposed for causing environmental damage due to the blowout.

Meanwhile, Konaseema-based environmental activist, Venkatapathi Raja Yenumala, filed a case before the National Green Tribunal, Chennai, on the incident and violations in the operations of the Mori Well-5.