Oil exploration area in the country will be increased to 10 lakh square km by 2030: Hardeep Puri – ..

New Delhi, 15 November (HS). Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has talked about expanding the oil exploration area in the country to 10 lakh square kilometers by 2030. He says that to strengthen India’s energy security, it is necessary to increase the oil exploration area as much as possible. Hardeep Singh Puri was addressing the conference of GEO India 24 organized in Greater Noida adjacent to Delhi today.

Addressing the program, he said that when Narendra Modi government was formed at the Center in 2014, exploration could be done only in 6 percent of India’s sedimentary basins, but now this figure has increased to 10 percent. . Along with this, due to further activities to be carried out under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), this figure will increase to 16 percent in 2025. He said the government has reduced the ‘no go’ area in the Exclusive Economic Zone by about 99 per cent, opening up new areas for oil and natural gas exploration.

At the GEO India 24 conference, the Union Minister also informed about several reforms being undertaken by the Central Government to encourage growth in the energy sector. He said that in these major reforms, the process of approval for exploration and production activities has been simplified. Earlier, to start exploration and production work, approval had to be taken in 37 different stages, which has now been reduced to 18. In these also, arrangements have been made for self-certification for 9 approval processes. Additionally, the introduction of the Oil Fields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill in 2024 ensures policy stability for oil and natural gas producers. This allows international arbitration and also extends the lease period.

The Union Petroleum Minister said that the energy landscape of the country is developing at a very fast pace. The country has reserves of 651.8 million metric tons of crude oil and 1,138.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which have not been explored yet. Despite such abundant resources, India has not been able to utilize its exploration capacity. But the central government will soon start making maximum use of its exploration capacity. Serious efforts are being made in this direction.