February 12, 2002

    The Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Ram Naik has said that the blocks for exploration of oil and gas will be offered for global bidding under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), in the third round by the end of this Fiscal Year. Referring to the discoveries of oil and gas in Krishna-Godavari Deep Waters area, Shri Naik said that there has been a positive change of perceptions about the prospects of finding oil and gas in India, particularly in deep waters. Shri Naik said this while inaugurating a seminar on "Petroleum Resource Management" organised by PETRAD of Norway and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), here today. He underlined that NELP offers one of the best contractual and fiscal terms besides providing equal opportunity for all the investors.

    Referring to huge outgo on imports of oil which was over Rs. 80,000 crore last year, the Minister emphasised that the prudent management of our scarce domestic resources is the need of the hour. This is more so as our ultimate vision is to develop hydrocarbon sector into a globally competitive industry which could be benchmarked against the best in the world, as visualised in India Hydrocarbon 2025. The Minister further said that the realistic assessment of resources and their optimal development in terms of cost and recoveries and application of efficient technologies are the real challenges that are faced by the oil industry. During the periods of low oil prices as was seen in the past, when the crude oil prices fell below US$ 10 per barrel, concerns of oil industry reach its peak for maximization of value of its discovered resources by reducing the costs through several cost reduction initiatives, the Minister opined.

    The seminar was also attended by Shri V.N. Kaul, Petroleum Secretary who said that all activities in the hydrocarbon sector, particularly in the exploration side, should be upgraded to the best. He pointed out that NELP endorses the adoption of better management practices by the companies who have been awarded blocks for bringing in positive results.

    The International Programme for Petroleum Management and Administration, Norway, most commonly known as PETRAD, conducts tailor-made seminars around the world for executives in both upstream and downstream sectors. The present seminar has been specially designed on the key topics suggested by DGH to meet the requirement of the Indian Oil Industry. During the seminar focus would be on developing an understanding of the Petroleum Resources Management aspects for efficient, cost effective and environmentally sound management of petroleum resources in close interaction with Norwegian Industry experts through a common forum with Indian upstream and Industry and DGH. PETRAD has so far engaged about 400 Norwegians and 70 experts from rest of the world as resource persons and lecturers for its various activities.