Govt to cut energy import dependence by 10 pc by 2022: Pradhan

Government's multiple reforms in the oil and gas sector are aimed at increasing the domestic production of oil and gas, thereby reducing the energy import dependence by 10 per cent by 2022, Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told industry leaders today.
At an interactive meet here on the Discovered Small Field (DSF) Bid Round 2016, the minister briefed about initiatives such as new Domestic Gas Pricing Guidelines and liberalised Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP).
The DSF Bid Round 2016 has been introduced under the broad policy of HELP, which offers 46 contract areas consisting of 67 fields across nine sedimentary basins for extraction and exploration of oil and gas.

Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the technical arm of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), is inviting bids to develop and monetise these contract areas which are estimated to hold in-place Oil and Oil equivalent reserves of 86 Million Metric Tonnes with an estimated recoverable reserves of roughly 30 Million Metric Tonnes, based on revenue sharing contract model.
The event, organised by MoPNG, follows a series of interactive meets conducted across various cities around the world including Mumbai, Guwahati, Houston, Calgary, Dubai, Singapore, London and Aberdeen to promote the DSF Bid Round 2016.
As part of the event, Amar Nath, Joint Secretary, MoPNG highlighted that the offered fields are already discovered and thus, expected to have low cost requirements and low risk profile, a release by the DGH said.

K D Tripathi, Secretary, MoPNG, explained the salient features of the bid round such as no up-front signature bonus, no mandatory work programme, freedom in pricing and marketing of oil and gas produced and other fiscal benefits such as no oil cess, custom duty exemption and graded royalty rates.
The meet was conducted in the South, given its strong technological base (Bengaluru, Hyderabad) and refinery base (Vishakhapatnam, Chennai), the release said.
It was highlighted that out of 67 fields on offer, a total of 17 fields (under 14 contract areas) lie in this part of the country, with eight in Andhra Pradesh, two in Tamil Nadu and seven in KG offshore basins.