Oil & Gas Sector Clinching Tremendous Growth

April 26, 2010 4:57 am

Oil & Gas Sector Clinching Tremendous Growth
 
Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry accounts for 35 percent share in the entire energy requirements in India. The FDI policy for the petroleum & natural gas sector allows FDI up to 100% under the automatic route in almost all activities. The recent initiatives by the Govt of India in building stronger association with other countries to for growth in oil and sector would boost the entire Industry. The latest happenings of Oil & Gas Industry are highlighted by Subhajit Roy.
 
The Oil and Gas sector is of strategic importance and plays one of the most significant roles in economical growth of any country. Keeping pace with the rapid developments, Oil and Gas sector in India has expanded itself manifold and is expected to grow at a much faster pace to meet increasing demand. Thus, there is a dire need for intensive exploration of new discoveries.
 
Exploration and Production (E&P)
With the increasing demand for crude oil and gas, the Government of India has initiated several measures to boost the Exploration and Production (E&P) activities that would help the country to explore new resources. Backed by the Cairn India’s Prolific Rajasthan oil field, India’s crude oil production is expected to jump by 11% in the year 2009-10 to touch the highest-ever mark of 36.7 Million Tonnes. The production of crude oil was 33.5 Million Tonnes a year ago. It is also projected that the production of natural gas would reach 50.211 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) which is 52.8 per cent higher than 32.874 BCM of the previous year.
 
Imports
India depends to a large extent on imports of crude oil to meet its requirement. More than 70% of crude oil is being imported as of now and during the last five years there has been a constant rise in import of crude oil from 95.9 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) in 2004-05 to 128.16 MMT in 2008-09. However, the country is expected to provide 8.9 MMT of crude oil during 2011-12 that would account for about 25 per cent of the total domestic crude oil production and reduce the country’s crude oil import bill by about 8 per cent, at current crude oil prices.
 
New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) & Coal Bed Methane (CBM)
The New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) was formulated in 1997-1998 to boost hydrocarbons exploration in the country by providing a level playing field, where exploration licences would be granted through international competitive basis to foreign and national oil companies (NOC). Thus NELP provides an international class fiscal and contract framework for E&P of hydrocarbons.
In order to explore and produce Coal Bed Methane (CBM) and to increase the pace of exploration and development in the country, the Government of India offers ten additional blocks in different coal/lignite fields under CBM Round-IV of international bidding. India, with the fourth largest coal reserves in the world, has significant potential for exploration and utilization of CBM. The total sedimentary area for CBM exploration is of 26,000 sq. km. out of which only 52% of the area is explored so far and a large area remains un-explored. Hence, there is a huge opportunity for potential investors.
In 2009, the Government announced seven year tax holiday for commercial production of gas in respect of contract to be signed under NELP VIII and CBM IV with a view to give a boost to exploration and production. The successful completion of NELP VIII and CBM IV Policy in the face of global recession was in itself a major achievement.  The response of bidders when compared to similar offers elsewhere in the world was one of the best during the year. 
 
Natural Gas
It is the most environment friendly and economical viable gas resource. As a recent attempt, the Government has decided to promote national gas grid on the pattern of national highways that would optimize the utilisation of natural gas in the country. This initiative will help connect various sources of natural gas to different demand centers all over the country.
Krishna Godavari Basin D6 block, operated by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is expected to nearly double the supply of natural gas from the domestic sources, which excluding D6 production is close to 70 mscmd (ONGC fields and joint venture fields) currently. At present, the gas production from D6 is 52 mscmd, which is expected to touch 70 mscmd in January and maintain the natural gas production in the range of 82-89 mscmd up to March 2012. 
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC), Oil India Ltd. (OIL) and the Joint Ventures of Panna-Mukta-Tapti, and Ravva are the prime producers of natural gas in India. In order to expand natural gas transportation infrastructure in the country, the Government has announced nine new trunk pipelines with total length of 5523 km. These are; (i) Dadri-Bawana-Nangal (ii) Chainsa-Jhajjar-Hissar (iii) Dabhol-Bangalore (iv) Kochi-Kanjirrakod-Bangalore-Mangalore (v) Jagdishpur-Haldia (vi) Vijaywada-Nellore-Chennai (vii) Kakinada-Basudevpur-Howrah (viii) Chennai-Tuticorin and (ix) Chennai-Bangalore-Mangalore pipelines.
 
Oil Refineries
India is a net exporter of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, naphthalene, Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) etc. The country has been able produce an amount of 160.77 MMT during the year 2008-09 and is expected to reach up to 240.95 MMT per year by the end of XI th plan.
 
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy
Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry accounts for 35 percent share in the entire energy requirements in India. The FDI policy for the petroleum & natural gas sector allows FDI up to 100% under the automatic route in all activities other than refining, investment/financing, setting up infrastructure for marketing in petroleum and natural gas sector subject to sectoral policy including market study and formulation. NELP and CBM policy have been introduced to attract more investments to the sector.

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