Kelkar panel interim report on oil, gas production soon

The Vijay Kelkar Committee tasked to prepare a roadmap for enhancing domestic production of oil and gas will present an interim report in the next few days, Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily said Monday.

"I met Dr. Kelkar in Pune last week. He told me that he is finalising an interim report and may seek some more time for submitting the final report," Moily told reporters on the sidelines of the 21st Global Symposium here on "Linking Project Mindset to Nations Prosperity".

The government in March appointed a panel under economist Vijay Kelkar to prepare a roadmap for enhancing domestic production of oil and gas by 2030. The committee was given six months to submit its report.

India currently produces around 33 million tonnes of crude oil, while it imports about 80 percent of its oil needs, and around 50 percent of its natural gas requirements.

The Kelkar panel's brief includes suggesting "innovative resource mobilisation approaches for appraising the unexplored/partly explored acreages (oil and gas)".

The committee will also review institutional mechanisms for acquiring oil and gas assets abroad, as well as diplomatic and political initiatives for importing gas from neighbouring and other countries.

--Indo-Asian news service

bc/vt