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RAS question

India's first oil well was drilled at:

Correct answer: (D) Digboi, Assam (1889).

India's first oil well was drilled at Digboi, Assam, in 1889.

  1. (A)

    Ankleshwar, Gujarat

  2. (B)

    Barmer, Rajasthan

  3. (C)

    Mumbai High

  4. (D)

    Digboi, Assam (1889)

Explanation

Digboi in Assam is the answer because the cited Oil India Limited history places the first commercial discovery of crude oil in the country at Digboi in 1889. It also states that the first well at the Digboi Field was dug by the Assam Railways and Trading Company Limited. That matches the standard RAS fact: India's first oil well was drilled at Digboi, Assam, in 1889. The wider clue is historical sequence. Digboi came first, the Digboi refinery followed in 1901 as India's oldest operating refinery, and Assam remained India's only oil-producing region until Bombay High was discovered in 1974. So the question is testing the beginning of India's petroleum industry, not later producing centres.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) Ankleshwar, Gujarat is wrong because the question asks for the first oil well, and the given chronology places the first one at Digboi in 1889.
  • (B) Barmer, Rajasthan is wrong because the option itself belongs to a much later 2009 context, not the 1889 beginning of oil drilling at Digboi.
  • (C) Mumbai High is wrong because it was discovered in 1974, long after Digboi had already marked India's first oil well in 1889.

Concept

This tests the economic geography of India's mineral and energy resources, especially the historical origin of petroleum production. It recurs in RAS because Assam, Digboi and Bombay High anchor the standard sequence of India's oil-sector geography.

Source

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