A technical team of experts has returned to China with samples of petroleum products collected after the completion of an exploration project in the Jaljale area of Bhairavi Rural Municipality -1 in Dailekh district. The team took the samples after the drilling work concluded recently. The exploration project, which began on April 23, was funded with a grant of Rs 2.5 billion from the Chinese government.

Geologist Prakash Luitel of the Department of Mines and Geology said that the technical team from China took away the samples extracted from a depth of 4,130 meters.

"The experts drilled to a depth of 4,130 meters and collected samples at an interval of two meters," Luitel said, "The team has now returned to China after collecting the samples."

Luitel also said that casing and cementing work has been completed following the drilling. He mentioned that among the 35-member technical team that arrived from China for the exploration, only 15 remain in the reservoir while the rest have returned to China. He said that exploration of gas storage and processing work for extraction will proceed after three months.

"In the first phase, the Chinese technicians identified the potential petroleum sites through an on-site study in Dailekh. Based on their findings, drilling work commenced with the construction of a ring house," Luitel said, "Now, the economic feasibility of the mine will be analyzed, and only then will the necessary production work move forward."

The Government of Nepal had signed an agreement with the Chinese government on February 28, 2019, to undertake the petroleum exploration at the Nabhisthan Paduka site in Dailekh. As per the agreement. The exploration was supposed to be completed within three years. However, the work was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.