Reforms in Oil and Gas Exploration The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that the Government takes various policy and administrative initiatives from time to time to facilitate hydrocarbon exploration in the country. Some of the policy decisions taken by the Government in recent years to enhance exploration and production activities are as under: Government has approved Hydrocarbon and Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) and same has been notified on 30th March 2016. This policy provides for a uniform licensing system to explore and produce all hydrocarbons such as oil, gas, coal bed methane, shale oil/gas, etc. under a single licensing framework Policy also provides many incentives such as reduced royalty rates for offshore blocks, marketing & pricing freedom and easy to administer revenue sharing model. Marketing and Pricing freedom for new gas production from Deepwater, Ultra Deepwater and High Pressure-High Temperature areas subject to certain conditions. Discovered Small Fields Policy- 67 oil & gas fields which have been held by ONGC and OIL for many years, but have not been exploited, has been approved for bidding under this policy. Policy for grant of extension to the Production Sharing Contracts of 28 Small and medium sized discovered blocks. Policy Framework for relaxation, extensions and clarifications at the development and production stage under PSC regime for early monetization of hydrocarbon discoveries: Government approved this policy on 10.11.2014, and the same is being implemented. Under this policy, about 40 pending cases have been resolved. New Domestic Natural Gas price Guidelines, 2014: Under these guidelines, gas price has been linked to the market/ important hub prices. RG/ Rk
