India’s First Commerical Discovery Still Producing Oil

The place now known as Digboi marks the site of India’s first commercial oil discovery by the Assam Railways & Trading Company (AR&TC), in 1889. And now, 116 years later, the field still produces oil — it is among the world’s oldest wells which have continuously been in production. Digboi enjoys another distinction as well — it has the world’s oldest operating oil refinery, which was established in 1901. Peak production for the well was during World War-II. After a century of producing oil, Digboi fields may still have some way to go. The original well in 1889 had stuck oil at a depth of about 178 feet while the current production is from a depth of 1,000 meters. The operator of the field, OIL is now planning to drill further up to depths of 4,500 meters — almost 15,000 feet — in hopes of finding more oil.


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