Lok Sabha Question No. 930 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-26
Subject: Clearance to Exploration Projects
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, Pritam Gopinath Munde

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 930

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 th  JULY, 2020

Clearance to Exploration Projects

930. SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE:

SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT: DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE:

पैोलयम व ाक ृतक गैस मंी

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

- (a) whether delayed licences and clearances have been at the heart of slow progress in exploration project in the country
- (b) if so, the facts in this regard;
- (c)  whether  the  explorers  have  to  obtain  several  clearances  from  multiple  Government authorities, resulting in missed deadlines and increased liabilities
- (d) if so, the facts thereof;
- (e) whether a new proposal has been prepared by the Government for getting clearances from multiple government authorities; and
- (f)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  time  by  which  the  new  proposal  is  likely  to  be implemented?

## ANSWER

पेोलयम और ाक ृतक गैस मंालय म राय मंी ( ी रामेवर तेल )

## MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI  RAMESWAR TELI)

- (a) to (d): Contractors/Operators  of  Oil  &  Gas  blocks  have  to  obtain  statutory clearances  and  approvals  from  various  State  and  Central  Government  authorities  to start  Exploration  &  Production  activities.    These  clearances  and  approvals  include Petroleum  Exploration  License  (PEL),  Petroleum  Mining  Lease  (PML),  environment related  clearances  like  Environment  Clearance,  Forest  Clearance  , Wildlife  clearance etc.,  Clearances  from  Ministry  of  Defence,  Clearance  from    Department  of  Space  , Consent to Establish (CTE) , Consent to Operate (CTO) and many other clearances. Delay  in  obtaining  such  clearances  and  approvals  affects  the  overall  timelines  and progress of the Exploration & Production projects.

(e)  &  (f) :  The  Government  has  been  making  continuous  efforts  to  ensure  timely clearances and approvals. Various efforts made by the Government in this regard are:

- i.  The Empowered Coordination Committee (ECC) has been constituted under the  Cabinet  Secretary  for  streamlining  and  speeding  up  clearances  and approvals.
- ii. Ministry  of  Petroleum  &  Natural  Gas  (MOP&NG)  vide  OM  dated  28.02.2020 conveyed  approval  of Self  Certification of  Production  Sharing  Contracts (PSCs)  processes.  Twenty  two  processes  were  identified  where  documents from  the  Contractors  shall  be  accepted  on  Self-Certification  basis  and  no approval is required.
- iii.  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  &  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC)  has  launched PARIVESH,  a  web  based,  role  based  workflow  application  which  has  been developed for online submission and monitoring of the proposals submitted by the proponents for seeking Environment, Forest, Wildlife and CRZ Clearances from Central, State and district level authorities.
- iv. Directorate  General  of  Hydrocarbons  (DGH)  in  consultation  with  Ministry  of Defence/ Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has developed and implemented, esubmission  of  all  applications  for  MOD  related  vessel  clearance  and  MHA related expat clearance for Exploration & Production operations.
- v. Regular meetings are being held in presence of officials from MOP&NG, DGH, State  Government  to  discuss  pending  issues  related  to  grant  of  licenses  or clearances  pertaining to respective States.
- vi. URJA PRAGATI (Upstream Response by Joint Action for proactive Governance and Timely Implementation) web-based interactive portal has been launched    recently  by  DGH  to  prioritize  and  flag  the  long  pending  issues concerning  the  upstream  hydrocarbon  sector  involving  various  stakeholders such as Operators, Central Ministries and State Governments.

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