61 HYDROCARBON DISCOVERIES IN INDIA DURING LAST 3 YEARS : SHRI
RAM
NAIK LEADING E&P COMPANIES ATTEND
THE NELP-IV ROAD SHOW AT PERTH
The fifth and final
Road Show at Perth for promoting investment in the fourth round
of offering oil and gas exploration blocks under New Exploration
Licensing Policy (NELP-IV) received an impressive response. As
many as 38 companies participated in the Road Show held at Perth
today. Perth is a base for many Australian and multinational E&P
companies. Some of the E&P companies, which attended the Road
Show are BHP Billiton, Chevron Texaco, Japan Oil National Corporation,
Woodside Energy, Roc Oil Company and Marubeni. The 24 blocks (12
deepwater blocks, 11 onland blocks and 1 shallow water block)
on offer under NELP-IV were showcased at this Road Show. The first
Road Show was held at New Delhi on 20th May, second
Road Show at London on 5th June, third Road Show at
Calgary on 9th June and fourth Road Show at Houston
on 11th June, 2003. Shri Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum
& Natural Gas is currently in Australia leading a high level
delegation to promote NELP-IV to prospective E&P companies
and investors.
Shri Naik highlighted
that NELP-IV has been launched in the backdrop of the recent huge
deepwater gas discoveries made in the Krishna-Godavari basin on
the East Coast of India. A total of 16 discoveries have been made
by private operators in the last three years. In addition, National
Oil Companies (NOCs) namely Oil & Natural Gas Corporation
Limited (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) have made 31 and 14
discoveries respectively in the last three years. Some of these
discoveries, particularly in D-6 block of the Krishna Godavari
basin have been the largest made anywhere in the World during
the year 2002. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the operator
for the Krishna-Godavari deepwater block (D-6) has now upgraded
their estimates of initial inplace reserves from 7 trillion cubic
feet (about 198 billion cubic metre) to 14 trillion cubic feet
(about 396 billion cubic metre). ONGC has also made a large oil
& gas discovery, namely Vasai (West), in the Western offshore
in March 2003. The initial estimates of inplace reserves are over
30 million metric tonne. This is indeed a very good news for energy
hungry market in India. With the ongoing implementation of aggressive
exploration programme under NELP, more such discoveries are expected
to be made in days to come.
Shri Ram Naik emphasised
the highly attractive opportunities being offered under NELP-IV
and impressed upon companies to participate in the bidding process
to enter into a long term beneficial relationship by becoming
part of India’s growing and vibrant Petroleum Sector.
Shri B.K. Chaturvedi,
Secretary (P&NG) brought out the perceptible change in the
work culture in Government as well as the expeditious exploration
programme being implemented by many operators with resounding
success. He highlighted the demand-supply gap being faced by India
in oil and natural gas and the steps being taken by the Government
of India and stressed that the big discoveries made in India recently
have changed perceptions about hydrocarbon prospectivity of Indian
sedimentary basins. He invited investors to avail the attractive
investment opportunities being offered by India under NELP-IV.
Shri R.S. Rathore,
High Commissioner of India in Australia welcomed the delegates
and brought out the strong and ever growing trade and economic
relationship between India and Australia. He highlighted the fact
that cooperation in the energy sector spanned over two centuries
in coal and over decades in the oil and gas sector.
Shri J.M. Mauskar
made a comprehensive presentation on the policy, fiscal, legal
and contractual framework and Dr. Avinash Chandra made detailed
presentation on the geology of the offered blocks. Both speakers
highlighted the attractiveness of the terms as well as the geological
prospects under NELP-IV. They brought out that the investment
opportunities offered under NELP-IV were indeed world class.
Some of the major
stakeholders in India’s upstream petroleum sector namely ,Cairn
Energy and ONGC, also made presentations during the NELP-IV Road
Show about their experiences, success stories and the plans and
vision their companies have regarding India’s upstream Emphasizing
the strong fundamentals as well as the attractiveness of the E&P
sector in India, they concluded that the investment climate in
India was indeed positive with very attractive fiscal terms under
NELP.
Mr. Brian Shanahan
of JP Morgan made a presentation highlighting the robust macroeconomic
fundamental and the economic reforms and opportunities available
in the hydrocarbon sector. He brought out that India was one of
the best investment destinations with its huge market, political
stability and progressive reforms and policies.
Shri Naik announced
that in order to facilitate investors data viewing centres have
been opened at Houston, London, and New Delhi. Interested companies
can purchase the data at New Delhi from the office of Directorate
General of Hydrocarbons. Key information such as salient technical
data on the blocks on offer, the bid documents and highlights
of NELP-IV, were available at a special web site at www.indigopool.com.
This website can also be accessed from the Ministry’s official
website www.petroleum.nic.in
as well as www.dghindia.org.
Shri Naik informed
the companies that the bid closing date for NELP-IV was 30th
september, 2003 and exhorted them to participate in the bidding
process and be a partner in the ever growing Hydrocarbon Sector
of India.
The Minister also mentioned
that India has launched the second round of Coal Bed Methane (CBM)
exploration offering 9 blocks on 23rd May, 2003. Insofar
as CBM is concerned, India and Australia are key players. The
first CBM Road Show was held at Delhi on 27th May,
2003 and the second Road Show was held at Houston on 12th
June. Interested companies can visit the CBM-II website www.cbm2-india.com
for details. Shri Naik informed that the bid closing date for
CBM-II was 15th October, 2003.
