State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has received environmental clearance for its Rs 3.5 billion project for drilling 22 exploratory wells in blocks located in the Banaskantha, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad districts of Gujarat. The wells are slated to be drilled in blocks CB-CNN-2010/1, 6 and 9, which were awarded to the company in March 2012 through the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)-IX bidding process. The petroleum exploratory licence to start activities as per the production sharing contract was granted in February 2013. The initial contract period is seven years. Each well will be drilled up to a depth of 3,000 metres. Among the conditions specified, the company has been asked to prepare an oil spillage prevention scheme and comply with the guidelines for solid waste disposal, drill cutting and drilling fluids for onshore drilling operations.