Agartala, Jul 23 (IANS): The state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Saturday said it had intensified efforts to implement the ambitious Rs.2,400 crore to replace and revamp ageing installations in Assam.

The project, launched in 2009, includes removal of surface bottlenecking and utilisation of technologies and equipment of international standards, besides drilling of high-tech wells to increase production.

"Several wells were abandoned many years back in different parts of Assam," ONGC chairman and managing director A.K. Hazarika told reporters.

"ONGC has tied up with (state-owned) Nuclear Power Corp (of India Ltd) (NPCIL) to explore possibilities of uranium exploration and extend necessary assistance to set up nuclear power projects in India."

Hazarika said a pilot project would be undertaken for uranium exploration in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

India, with 0.8 percent of the world's uranium reserves, will need 78,000 tonnes to generate 20,000 MW of electricity through nuclear power by 2020.

Hazarika, accompanied by chiefs of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Power Grid Corp India Ltd, is on a two-day visit to Tripura to review the progress of the giant Palatana power project.

The ONGC, for the first time, has been commissioning commercial power project in India with a generation capacity of 726 MW in Palatana, 60 km south of here.

The Fortune 500 company has formed ONGC Tripura Power Co Ltd (OTPC) to set up the Rs.9,000-crore project, the largest thermal power plant in the northeast.

"Due to monsoon related transportation hiccups, the project would start electricity generation in February 2012 instead of December this year. The second unit would begin to produce power in August 2012," Hazrika said.