Govt unveils new hydrocarbon exploration policy

India will only share revenue: Pradhan

 India has announced a new hydrocarbon exploration licensing policy which offers single licence to explore conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources, as the country seeks to propel investment in the energy sector.

Christened “Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy” or HELP, the new policy also gives the investors the much needed freedom in pricing and marketing for crude oil and natural gas.

The new policy is part of the strategy to make India a business and investor-friendly destination and achieve the plan to double India’s existing oil production from current 80 million metric tonnes to about 150-155 million metric tonnes by 2022, said Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Pradhan is leading a high-powered delegation to Houston to attend CERAWeek 2017 – an international meeting of top leaders from the oil, energy and natural gas industry. In addition to the Canadian Prime Minister, the week-long meeting is being attended by oil and energy ministers from countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

“In the new model, the government will not micromanage, micro monitor with producers. The government will only share revenue. It will be an open and regular affair,” he said.

“The policy aims to propel investment in the energy and petroleum sector and provide operational flexibility to the investors,” the minister said.

India moving to the centre stage of global energy market: IEA

India is moving to the centre stage of global energy market and by the early 2020s it will replace Russia as the world’s third largest refiner, a top official of the International Energy Agency said.

“That India is moving to the centre stage of global oil and energy markets. It is not only oil. It is coal. It is solar. It is out of the strong growth in the economy and the population growth,” Fatih Birol, Executive Director of IEA on Tuesday told reporters at a news conference on the sidelines of the internal oil and gas meet CERAWeek.

Birol, who met Pradhan on the sidelines of the meet, told reporters that the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has provided a strong impetus to Indian economy, particularly in terms of boosting oil and gas production.