RAJYA SABHA
Shri Santosh Gangwar,
Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, informed
the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that the initial inplace
hydrocarbon accretion in the last three years was of the order
of 570 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) of Oil and Oil Equivalent
of Gas (O+OEG). The total expenditure incurred on exploration,
by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and Oil India Limited
as also by private/joint venture companies, during the last
three years was about Rs. 7,024 crore.
Shri Gangwar emphasised
that the Government has formulated New Exploration Licensing
Policy (NELP) in order to accelerate the exploration of hydrocarbons
in the country and under the three rounds of NELP, Production
Sharing Contracts for 70 exploration blocks have been signed
in the last three years.
In reply to another
question, Shri Gangwar informed the House that estimated investment
for exploration in the NELP blocks as indicated by the awardee
companies is US$ 2973 million (Rs. 14,567 crore).