Oil sector to receive $100 billion in investment by 2030: Puri – Industry News

India’s exploration and production sector will need $100 billion in investment by 2030, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday, stressing that the government is focused on boosting domestic oil and gas production while reducing dependence on imports.

The minister admitted that the government’s efforts to increase production so far have proven insufficient.
“E&P represents an investment opportunity worth $100 billion by 2030. Our efforts in the past have fallen far short of what needs to be done in the E&P sector,” Puri said.

The minister said that despite the country’s significant progress, most of the exploration and production potential still remains untapped in 26 sedimentary basins. “It seems strange to me that India is so dependent on oil imports, even though we have vast geological resources at our disposal.”

The country’s sedimentary basins currently contain approximately 651.8 million tons of crude oil. and 1,138.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas. India imports 85% of its crude oil requirements.

So far, the country’s mining sector has explored only 10% of the sedimentary basin. The government now aims to increase the exploration area to 16% by the end of 2024 after the completion of upcoming rounds of bidding under the Open Acreage Licensing Program.

The government also intends to increase the area of ​​exploration areas to 1 million square kilometers by 2030.

“The government is doing its part to catalyse investments in E&P. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has introduced wide-ranging reforms, empowering stakeholders to contribute to the progress of our country,” he said. “We aim to increase the exploration area in India to 1 million sq km by 2030.”

In the first eight bidding rounds, the government awarded a total of 144 blocks with a total area of ​​approximately 244,007 sq km.

Since its introduction in 2015, the Discovered Small Field (DSF) policy has attracted approximately $2 billion in investment and introduced 29 new players to the industry.

Puri said the investment of Rs 7,500 crores will be used for acquisition of new seismic data, including Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) data, funding for stratigraphic drilling and acquisition of aerial survey data in difficult terrain.

He also announced the formation of a Joint Working Group (JWG), comprising representatives of private E&P operators, domestic oil companies, the petroleum ministry and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, to examine issues related to the ease of doing business in the E&P segment, the adequacy of policies and procedures and the need for their revision. The group will submit its recommendations within eight weeks.