With Prime Minister Narendra Modi setting steep target of cutting reliance on imports, the petroleum ministry has intensified monitoring of oil and gas fields given to state-owned firms like ONGC.

Modi had in March 2015 called for cutting India’s dependence on imports to meet its oil needs by 10% by 2022 from 77% then.

Import dependence has since only risen to 81%.

“Most of our production of oil and gas come from nomination fields with ONGC and Oil India. We have now started monitoring those fields and have given new benchmarks to the national oil companies to increase production,” Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at an industry event.

He said oil recovery from reservoirs internationally is 35 to 40% and that for gas is 55 to 70%. “In India, the current recovery factors of ONGC and Oil India for crude oil are as low as 27% and 23%. In case of natural gas, it is 54% and 43% for ONGC and Oil India, respectively,” he said.

Pradhan said there is a need for introducing new thinking, new technologies and remaining ahead of the curve.

“I am told E&P sector should have major investment in ‘Internet of Things’. Digital oil fields, all infrastructure linked to the network, ability to monetise micro reserves are the new areas we need to look at,” he said.

He cited the example of a marginal oil field in Vienna where sensors and small in-house innovations were used to reduce cost of production and monetise small gas production.