SME Times News Bureau | 05 Jun, 2013
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerrappa Moily Tuesday said
exploration blocks are likely to be offered in the current fiscal after
getting the necessary clearances.
While chairing a meeting of his ministry's Parliamentary Consultative Committee here, Moily
said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had carved out
exploration areas of about 2.7 lakhs square kilometres, for which
process of the inter-ministerial clearances had been initiated.
"On completion of clearance process, exploration blocks are likely to be offered in 2013-14," he said.
The
minister said only 73 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas
could be established so far through exploration, out of 205 billion
barrels of prognosticated hydrocarbon resources. Thus, about 133 billion
barrels of prognosticated resources remain to be unlocked through
exploration.
The ministry has constituted a committee under the
chairmanship former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar to prepare a roadmap
for enhancing domestic production of oil and gas and sustainable
reduction in import dependency by 2030.
