Lok Sabha Question No. 198 (STARRED), answered on 2021-03-08
Subject: Shale Oil and Gas
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Manish Tewari

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*198 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08 th  MARCH, 2021

## Shale Oil and Gas

## *198.     SHRI MANISH TEWARI:

## पेोलयम और ाक ृ तक गैस मंी Will the Minister of PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether any shale oil or gas has been explored or discovered in India; (b)  the quantity of shale oil and gas respectively India is importing from US annually from 2014  onwards including the total value of  such  imports  in  USD/Rupee  terms annually; (c)   the quantity of oil and natural gas India imports from Iran annually; (d)  whether the Government has any plans to make it Non-import dependent in oil and gas; (e)  the reasons for increase in the retail price of petrol/diesel/LPG/kerosene in India since the COVID-19Pandemic commenced in March, 2020 despite the Crude prices in the world declining sharply; and (f)    whether  the  Government  has  any  plans  to  explore  oil  and  gas  in  Punjab, especially  the  area  betweenPunjab  and  Himachal  Pradesh  namely  the  districts  of Mohali,  Rupnagar,  Shaheed  Bhagat  Singh  Nagar,  Hoshiarpur,  Pathankot  and
- Gurdaspur?

## ANSWER

पेोलयम और ाक ृ तक गैस मंालय म मंी ) धान धम ी (

## MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the table of the house.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  to  (f)  OF  THE  LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  198  BY  SHRI  MANISH  TEWARI  TO  BE ANSWERED ON 08.03.2021 REGARDING SHALE OIL AND GAS

( a): Government of India announced Policy guidelines for Exploration and Exploitation of Shale gas and Oil on 14 th October, 2013 for National Oil Companies (NOCs) i.e., ONGC and OIL. ONGC has carried out Shale Gas and Oil exploration activities in Cambay, Cauvery, Krishna-Godavari and Assam and Arakan Basins. Oil India  Ltd  has  carried  out  Shale  Gas  and  Oil  exploration  activities  in  Assam  and Rajasthan basins.

Further,  in  August,  2018,  Government  of  India  notified  Policy  Framework  for Exploration & Exploitation of Unconventional Hydrocarbons under Existing Production Sharing Contracts, Coal Bed Methane Contracts and Nomination Fields to  encourage  the  existing  Contractors  to  unlock  the  potential  of  unconventional hydrocarbons  including  shale  oil  and  gas  in  the  existing  acreages.  NOCs  have carried  out Shale Oil/Gas Exploration  work in their Petroleum Exploration  License/ Petroleum Mining Lease areas. Operators of blocks Raniganj (South) and Raniganj (East) have evinced their interest to carry out shale operations in their blocks.

However, no Shale Oil and Shale Gas reserves have been established in the country so far.

(b):   India is importing crude oil and gas from USA through a combination of term contracts and on spot basis. Oil & gas imported from USA is not categorized on the basis of source of production. As reported by Oil Companies, the details of India's Crude oil and LNG imports from USA from FY 2014-15 onwards are as under:

| Crude oil import from USA                                                          | Crude oil import from USA   | Crude oil import from USA   | Crude oil import from USA   | Crude oil import from USA   | Crude oil import from USA   | Crude oil import from USA   | Crude oil import from USA    |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|
|                                                                                    | 2014- 15                    | 2015- 16                    | 2016- 17                    | 2017- 18                    | 2018- 19                    | 2019- 20                    | 2020-21 (April- January) (P) |
| Total crude oil import from US (Quantity in Million Metric Tonne)                  | 0.0                         | 0.0                         | 0.0                         | 1.9                         | 6.2                         | 10.3                        | 10.8                         |
| Crude oil import from US by Public Sector Units (Quantity in Million Metric Tonne) | 0.0                         | 0.0                         | 0.0                         | 1.4                         | 3.0                         | 5.3                         | 7.1                          |
| Crude oil import from US by Public Sector Units (PSUs) (Value)- US$ Billion        | 0.0                         | 0.0                         | 0.0                         | 0.6                         | 1.6                         | 2.7                         | 2.2                          |
| Crude oil import from US by PSUs (Value)- Rupees. Crore                            | 0                           | 0                           | 0                           | 4138                        | 11398                       | 18915                       | 16614                        |

| LNG Import from USA                                                  | LNG Import from USA   | LNG Import from USA   | LNG Import from USA   | LNG Import from USA   | LNG Import from USA   | LNG Import from USA   | LNG Import from USA          |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|------------------------------|
|                                                                      | 2014-15               | 2015- 16              | 2016-17               | 2017-18               | 2018- 19              | 2019-20               | 2020-21 (April- January) (P) |
| Total Quantity of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) import from US (in MMT | 0.0                   | 0.0                   | 0.45                  | 0.33                  | 1.21                  | 1.23                  | 2.11                         |
| Total value of LNG import from US (in US$ million)                   | 0.0                   | 0.0                   | 156                   | 158                   | 557                   | 517                   | 733                          |
| Total Value of LNG import from US (in INR Crores)                    | 0.0                   | 0.0                   | 1046                  | 1015                  | 3893                  | 3663                  | 5483                         |

(P: Provisional)

- (c):  The quantity details of crude oil import from Iran from 2014-15 to 2020-21 (AprilJanuary) are as under:

| Crude oil import from Iran (in Million Metric Tonne)   | Crude oil import from Iran (in Million Metric Tonne)   | Crude oil import from Iran (in Million Metric Tonne)   | Crude oil import from Iran (in Million Metric Tonne)   | Crude oil import from Iran (in Million Metric Tonne)   | Crude oil import from Iran (in Million Metric Tonne)   | Crude oil import from Iran (in Million Metric Tonne)   |
|--------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2014-15                                                | 2015-16                                                | 2016-17                                                | 2017-18                                                | 2018-19                                                | 2019-20                                                | 2020-21(p)                                             |
| 11.0                                                   | 12.7                                                   | 27.2                                                   | 22.6                                                   | 23.9                                                   | 1.7                                                    | 0.0                                                    |

There is no import of natural gas since 2015-16 from Iran.

- (d):    The  policy  initiatives  taken  by  the  Government  to  reduce  import  dependency and increase domestic production of oil and gas include:-
- i. Policy for Relaxations, Extensions and Clarifications under Production Sharing Contract (PSC)  regime for early monetization of hydrocarbon discoveries
- ii. Discovered Small Field Policy
- iii. Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy
- iv. Policy for Extension of Production Sharing Contracts
- v. Policy for early monetization of Coal Bed Methane
- vi. Setting up of National Data Repository
- vii. Appraisal of Unappraised areas in Sedimentary Basins.
- viii. Re-assessment of Hydrocarbon Resources.
- ix. Policy framework to streamline the working of Production Sharing Contracts in Pre-NELP and NELP Blocks
- x. Policy  to  Promote  and  Incentivize  Enhanced  Recovery  Methods  for  Oil  and Gas
- xi. Policy framework for exploration and exploitation of Unconventional Hydrocarbons under existing Production Sharing Contracts, Coal Bed Methane contracts and Nomination fields

(P: Provisional)

Further,  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 aims 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 production or revenue sharing to Government, early monetization of discoveries by extending fiscal incentives, incentivizing and more functional freedom to National Oil Companies for collaboration for production enhancement methods in nomination fields.

(e):  Prices  of  petrol  and  diesel  have  been  made  market-  determined  by  the Government with effect  from  26.06.2010  and  19.10.2014  respectively.  Since  then, the  Public  Sector  Oil  Marketing  Companies  (OMCs)  take  appropriate  decision  on pricing  of  petrol  and  diesel  in  line  with  their  international  product  prices,  exchange rate, tax structure, inland  freight  and  other  cost  elements.  The  Government modulates the effective cost to consumer for Subsidized Domestic LPG and Retail Selling Price of PDS Kerosene in an effort to keep the common man insulated from wide price fluctuations.

(f):    Government  formulated  National  Seismic  Program  (NSP)  in  October  2016,  to apprise  the  unappraised  areas  in  all  sedimentary  basins  including  sedimentary basins  falling  in  the  areas  between  Punjab  and  Himachal  Pradesh.  It  will  help  in boosting the confidence of prospective bidders to invest in E&P sector in India, by analysing  the  data  available  to  them.  This  would  held  to  improve  perception  of hydrocarbon  prospectivity  and  generate  for  bidding  out  of  acreage  under  Open Acreage  Licensing  Policy  (OALP).  The  quantum  of  seismic  survey  work  (in  Line

Kilometer) done in the districts of Mohali, Rupnagar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Gurdaspur is as under:

| Districts                 |   Line Kilometer |
|---------------------------|------------------|
| Mohali                    |                0 |
| Rupnagar                  |               68 |
| Shahid Bhagat singh Nagar |               42 |
| Pathankot                 |               11 |
| Gurdaspur                 |               33 |
| Hoshiyarpur               |               50 |
| Total                     |              204 |

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