Lok Sabha Question No. 3463 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-24
Subject: Gas Reserves
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Pushpendra Singh Chandel, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3463

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 TH  MARCH, 2022

## Gas Reserves

3463.  SHRI KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL: SHRIMATI MALA RAJYA LAXMI SHAH:

## पेोलयमएवंाक ृ तकगैसमंी

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

- (a) the details of gas reserves in the country, State-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has made efforts for more production from the gas reserves in the country and promote use of their new alternatives; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## पेोलयमएवंाक ृ तकगैसमंालयमरायमंी ( ीरामेवरतेल ) MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROELUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

- (a) The state-wise details of Balance Recoverable Reserves of Natural Gas in the country as on 01.04.2021 are estimated as under:

| LOCATION/ AREA    | BALANCE GAS RESERVES(BCM*)   |
|-------------------|------------------------------|
| Onland            |                              |
| Andhra Pradesh    | 27.1                         |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 3.1                          |
| Assam             | 144.3                        |
| Gujarat           | 45.6                         |
| Jharkhand         | 7.8                          |
| Madhya Pradesh    | 30.9                         |
| Rajasthan         | 57.7                         |
| Tamil Nadu        | 27.3                         |
| Tripura           | 22.2                         |
| Nagaland          | 0                            |
| West Bengal       | 32.2                         |
| Offshore          |                              |
| Eastern Offshore  | 514.5                        |
| Western Offshore  | 228.6                        |
| Grand Total       | 1141.3                       |

*(Billion Cubic Meters)

(b)  &  (c)  Yes,  Sir.  The  policy  initiatives  taken  by  the  Government  for  enhanced domestic production of gas inter-alia include:-

## 1. Natural Gas Reforms (2014-2021):

- i. 'New Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines', 2014.
- ii. Marketing  including  pricing  freedom  with  a  price  ceiling  for  gas  production from difficult  areas  such  as  High  Pressure-  High  Temperature  (HP-HT)  and deepwater areas, 2016.
- iii. Marketing and pricing freedom for Coal Bed Methane (CBM), 2017.
- iv. Marketing including pricing freedom for natural gas for operators in the NorthEastern Region (NER) where commercial production commenced on or after 1st July, 2018.
- v. The  Policy  reforms  announced  in  February  2019  to  enhance  domestic production of oil and gas, inter-alia provides the following gas reforms:-
- a)  Full marketing and pricing freedom at arm's length basis for unexplored/unallocated areas. Further, marketing and pricing freedom at arm's length sales through competitive bidding to new gas discoveries  under  Field  Development  Plan  (FDP)  approved  for  first time after date of policy i.e., 28.02.2019.
- b)  Incentives in the form of reduction in Royalty by 10% for additional gas production  over  and  above  Business  As  Usual  (BAU)  scenarios  to Administered Price Mechanism (APM) fields of NOCs.
- vi. 'Natural  Gas  Marketing  Reforms'  announced  in  October  2020  inter-alia prescribes standard procedure to discover market price of gas to be sold by gas  producers,  through  a  transparent  and  competitive  process.  Detailed guidelines  for  Discovery  of  Market  Price  for  Domestically  Produced  Natural Gas  through  e-bidding  were  issued  vide  Notification  dated  03.12.2020  and agencies empanelled by DGH for carrying out e-bidding also been notified.
- vii. An  additional  mechanism  provided  vide  OM  dated  19.08.2021,  to  gas producers having pricing and marketing freedom, for selling small quantity of gas,  upto  500  MMSCM  or  10%  of  annual  production  from  Contract  Area, whichever is higher, per year through gas exchanges authorized by PNGRB.
- viii. Government issued detailed guidelines for monetization of Ad-hoc/Test Gas produced during the Testing of oil and gas well in November, 2021.

- ix. Complete Pricing and Marketing Freedom to gas produced from fields/blocks awarded under Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP).
2. Other Polices/Initiatives:
- i. Policy for Relaxations, Extensions and Clarifications under Production Sharing Contract (PSC)  regime for early monetization of hydrocarbon discoveries, 2014.
- ii. Policy for Extension of Production Sharing Contracts, 2016 and 2017.
- iii. Policy  to  Promote  and  Incentivize  Enhanced  Recovery  Methods  for  Oil  and Gas, 2018.
- iv. Policy framework for exploration and exploitation of Unconventional Hydrocarbons, 2018.
- v. Oil  and  Gas  acreages  are  being  awarded  regularly  under  Open  Acreage Licensing Policy. Further, Discover Small Field bid round-III and Special CBM Bid round have been launched to enhance domestic gas production.

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