Lok Sabha Question No. 2491 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-08
Subject: Reduction in Domestic Natural Gas Production
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Pritam Gopinath Munde, Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, Shrikant Eknath Shinde

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2491 TO BE ANSWERED ON 8 th  July, 2019

## Reduction in Domestic Natural Gas Production

## 2491. DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE: SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

## पैट्रोलियम व प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री

## Will the Minister of PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether there is a reduction in domestic natural gas production and increase in consumption demand;
- (b) if so, the reasons for reduction in domestic natural gas production;
- (c) whether the Government has prepared five-year action plan for reducing crude oil imports, increasing petroleum product exports and job creation in the sector;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  renew  their  focus  to  achieve  the  goal  of providing clean cooking fuel to all households by the next year; and
- (f)  if  so,  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to  complete  the  mission  of  providing clean cooking fuel to all households by next year?

## ANSWER

## पेट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री ( श्री धमेन्द्र प्रधान )

## MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a)  &  (b) The domestic production and consumption of natural gas in  Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters (MMSCM) for the last three years is as under:

|                                            | 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19   |
|--------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Gross Domestic Production                  | 31,897    | 32,649    | 32,873    |
| Net production (net of flare and loss) (A) | 30,848    | 31,731    | 32056     |
| LNG import (B)                             | 24,849    | 27,439    | 28692     |
| Consumption (A+B)                          | 55,697    | 59,170    | 60,748    |

(c) & (d) Ministry is working in collaboration with various Central Government Ministries to  achieve  the  goal  to  reduce  the  dependency  on  import  from  oil  and  gas.  The  fivepronged strategy, in this context, broadly comprises of increasing domestic production of oil  and  gas,  promoting  energy  efficiency  and  conservation  measures,  giving  thrust  on demand substitution, capitalizing untapped potential in biofuels and other alternate fuels/ renewables and implementing measures for refinery process improvements.

Government has taken several steps to enhance exploration & production of oil and  gas  in  the  country  which  include,  Discovered  Small  Field  Policy,  Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, Policy for Extension of Production Sharing Contracts, Policy  for  early  monetization  of  Coal  Bed  Methane,  Appraisal  of  Unappraised  areas  in Sedimentary Basins, Policy to Promote and Incentivize Enhanced Recovery Methods for Oil and Gas etc.

The Government in February, 2019 approved major reforms in exploration and licensing policy to enhance exploration activities, attract domestic and foreign investment in unexplored/unallocated areas of sedimentary basins and accelerate domestic production of oil and gas from existing fields. The policy reforms inter-alia aim to  boost exploration  activities  with  greater  weightage  to  work  programme,  simplified  fiscal  and contractual  terms,  bidding  of  exploration  blocks  under  Category  II  and  III  sedimentary basins without any production or revenue sharing to Government, early monetization of discoveries by  extending  fiscal incentives, incentivizing gas  production  including marketing and pricing freedom etc.

Government is also promoting the usage of environment friendly transportation fuel, i.e. CNG by expanding the coverage of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network in the country.  Government  has  also  taken  a  number  of  initiatives  to  encourage  the  use  of alternative  fuels  like  ethanol  and  bio-diesel  through  Ethanol  Blending  in  Petrol  (EBP) Programme and Bio-diesel blending in diesel. To promote use of compressed bio gas, Government  has  launched  Sustainable  Alternative  Towards  Affordable  Transportation (SATAT) on 01.10.2018.  Government has also formulated a National Bio  Fuel Policy 2018 to boost availability of biofuels in country.

(e)  &  (f) Currently,  all  such  poor  households  which  don't  have  LPG  connection  are provided with the connection under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), subject to fulfillment  of  terms  and  conditions  of  the  Scheme.  So  far,  more  than  7.30  crore connections have been released against the target of 8 crore under PMUY.

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