The government is investing approximately ₹7,500 crore to acquire seismic data from both onshore and offshore areas, as well as to drill stratigraphic wells. The effort aims to enhance the quality of data on Indian sedimentary basins for potential bidders.
To curb crude oil imports, the government is implementing several strategies. These include encouraging the use of natural gas as a fuel and feedstock nationwide, advancing alternative fuels like ethanol, compressed biogas, and biodiesel, improving refinery technologies, promoting energy efficiency and conservation, and boosting domestic oil and gas production through various policy measures.
Key policies aimed at increasing hydrocarbon production include the 2014 policy providing relaxations under the production sharing contract (PSC) regime, the 2015 discovered small field policy, and the 2016 hydrocarbon exploration and licensing policy (HELP). The national data repository (NDR), established in 2017, is being upgraded to a cloud-based system to facilitate better data sharing with global investors.
The government has also approved the creation of 2G ethanol plants across the country under the ethanol blending programme and launched the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative to encourage the use of compressed bio gas (CBG) as a vehicle fuel.
Additional reforms include the 2019 updates to the hydrocarbon exploration and licensing policy, the 2020 natural gas marketing reforms, and the 2023 model revenue sharing contracts (RSCs) reforms under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP). Approximately one million square kilometres of previously restricted offshore areas have been opened for exploration, leading to notable gas discoveries by ONGC in the Mahanadi offshore region.
The government has approved the acquisition of 2D seismic data covering 50,000 line kilometres in both onshore and offshore areas beyond India’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Coal Bed Methane (CBM) production has reached two million standard cubic meters per day, with additional blocks identified for future bidding.
As reported by ETEnergyworld.com, as of FY 2023-24, cumulative production from discovered small fields (DSF) stands at about 5,56,000 barrels of oil and 139 MMSCM of gas, with plans for more fields in upcoming rounds.
