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| Govt may next week consider drilling moratorium for RIL, ONGC |
| Press Trust fo India / New Delhi Jun 19, 2009, 18:57 IST |
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The Cabinet may next week decide on giving a three-year drilling holiday or moratorium to firms like state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Reliance Industries to help them tide over a global shortage of offshore drilling rigs.
"A Cabinet note has already been circulated and it may be listed for a decision as early as next week," a Petroleum Ministry official said.
An Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) had in January cleared the proposal but could not be put up to the Cabinet for approval because of the General Elections.
Companies such as ONGC and RIL have not been able to meet their work commitments for the blocks they had won under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds due to a crunch in availability of deep-sea drilling rigs.
The official said the oil ministry has moved a note for the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for giving a drilling holiday from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2010, for 33 blocks awarded in the fifth round of NELP.
Of the blocks where the drilling moratorium would apply, 15 are with ONGC, 17 with Reliance and one with ENI of Italy.
Globally, explorers are facing a shortage of drilling rigs as countries have stepped up their oil and gas hunt in the wake of the surge in crude oil prices. Day-hire charges for a deep-sea drill rig have shot up 250 per cent during the past two years.
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