Lok Sabha Question No. 2828 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-08
Subject: Survey to Explore Reserves of Petroleum Products in Rajasthan
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Shri Amra Ram, Shri Rahul Kaswan

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2828 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08 th August, 2024

## Survey to Explore Reserves of Petroleum Products in Rajasthan

†2828: Shri Rahul Kaswan:

Shri Amra Ram:

## पेट Ō ोिलयम एवं Ůाक ृ ितक गैस मंũी

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

- (a) whether the Government has undertaken survey to explore reserves of diesel, petrol and natural gas in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise, location and fuel category-wise, especially in Rajasthan;
- (c) whether the crude oil is being produced in the country in large scale;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government proposes to increase the production of natural gas, diesel and petrol in the country; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## पेट Ō ोिलयम एवं Ůाक ृ ितक गैस मंũालय मŐ राǛ मंũी ( ŵी सुरे श गोपी )

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROELUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI SURESH GOPI)

(a) & (b): Surveys are undertaken for identifying, assessing and extracting hydrocarbon reserves (crude oil and natural gas). Diesel and Petrol are obtained thereafter through refining of crude oil. Survey  activities  involve  various  stages  such  as  seismic  surveys  (2-Dimensional,  3-Dimensional), exploratory drilling, reservoir evaluation, production testing, economic and commercial assessment. Seismic surveys are carried out periodically in different parts of the country. Some recent large scale surveys inter alia are:

| Survey/Activity                          | Period                                          |
|------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| National Seismic Programme               | Started in 2017-18 and completed in April, 2022 |
| Airborne Geophysical Survey              | Started in 2023-24 and completed in May, 2024   |
| Andaman Offshore Project                 | Started in 2021-22 and completed in March, 2023 |
| Appraisal of Sedimentary Basin up to EEZ | Started in 2022-23 and completed in June, 2024  |

In addition, surveys are undertaken in individual blocks/fields. The details of survey activities carried out by the operating companies in blocks/fields as on 01.07.2024 are annexed as Annexure-I.

(c)  &  (d):  The  crude  oil  production  in  the  country  for  the  year  2023-24  was  29.36  Million  Metric Tonnes (MMT) in comparison to 29.18 MMT in the year 2022-23.

(e) & (f):    The Government has been taking various steps to increase hydrocarbon production which inter alia include:

- i. Policy  for  Relaxations,  Extensions  and  Clarifications  under  Production  Sharing  Contract (PSC) regime for early monetization of hydrocarbon discoveries, 2014.
- ii. Discovered Small Field Policy, 2015.
- iii. Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), 2016.
- iv. Policy for Extension of Production Sharing Contracts, 2016 and 2017.
- v. Policy for early monetization of Coal Bed Methane, 2017
- vi. Setting up of National Data Repository, 2017.
- vii. Appraisal of Un-appraised areas in Sedimentary Basins under National Seismic Programme, 2017.
- viii. Re-assessment of Hydrocarbon Resources, 2017.
- ix. Policy framework to streamline the working of Production Sharing Contracts in Pre- NELP and NELP Blocks, 2018.
- x. Policy  framework  for  extension  of  Production  Sharing  Contracts  for  Discovered  Fields  and Exploration Blocks under Pre-New Exploration Licensing Policy (Pre-NELP), 2016 and 2017.
- xi. Policy to Promote and Incentivize Enhanced Recovery Methods for Oil and Gas, 2018.
- xii. Policy framework for exploration and exploitation of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) from areas under Coal Mining Lease allotted to Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries, 2018.
- xiii. Policy  Framework  for  exploration  and  exploitation  of  Unconventional  Hydrocarbons  under Existing  Production  Sharing  Contracts  (PSCs),  Coal  Bed  Methane  (CBM)  Contracts  and Nomination Fields, 2018.
- xiv. Reforms in Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy for enhancing domestic exploration and production of oil and gas, 2019.
- xv. Natural Gas Marketing Reforms, 2020.
- xvi. Reforms  in  Model  Revenue  Sharing  Contracts  (RSCs)  for  Blocks  under  Open  Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP), 2023.
- xvii. Lower Royalty Rates, Zero Revenue Share (till Windfall Gain) and no drilling commitment in Phase-I in OALP Blocks under Category II and III to attract bidders.
- xviii. Release of about 1 Million Sq. Km. (SKM) 'No-Go' area in offshore which were blocked for exploration  for  decades.  Andaman  offshore  area  has  also  been  opened  for  exploration  and production  activities  after  a  long  time  post  removal  of  restrictions  imposed  by  defence  and space agencies in 2022.
- xix. Government  is  spending  about  Rs.7500  Cr.  for  acquisition  of  seismic  data  in  onland  and offshore areas and drilling of stratigraphic wells to make quality data of Indian Sedimentary Basins available to bidders.
- xx. Government  has  also  approved  acquisition  of  additional  2D  Seismic  data  of  20,000  Line Kilometre (LKM) in onland and 30, 000 LKM in offshore beyond Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of India.

*****

## Annexure-I

## (Referred to part (a) & (b) of reply to Lok Sabha USQ No. 2828)

## Details of survey activities carried out by the operating companies as on 01.07.2024

| State/Location    |   2D Seismic (LKM) |   3D Seismic (SKM) |   No. of Exploratory Wells drilled |
|-------------------|--------------------|--------------------|------------------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh    |              40437 |              12110 |                                536 |
| Arunachal Pradesh |                605 |                385 |                                  2 |
| Assam             |              38092 |               8808 |                                891 |
| Bihar             |               7794 |               1544 |                                  7 |
| Chhattisgarh      |                202 |                  0 |                                  0 |
| Gujarat           |             112645 |              21339 |                               3076 |
| Himachal Pradesh  |               4982 |                  0 |                                 16 |
| Haryana           |               1038 |                  0 |                                  0 |
| Jammu &Kashmir    |               2563 |                  0 |                                  4 |
| Kerala Offshore   |                  0 |                  0 |                                  0 |
| Madhya Pradesh    |              11618 |               3065 |                                 28 |
| Meghalaya         |                205 |                  0 |                                  3 |
| Maharashtra       |                476 |                  0 |                                  0 |
| Manipur           |                210 |                  0 |                                  0 |
| Mizoram           |               1561 |                613 |                                  8 |
| Nagaland          |                940 |                 46 |                                 28 |
| Odisha            |               2285 |               1787 |                                  3 |
| Punjab            |               4078 |                  0 |                                  4 |
| Rajasthan         |              51041 |              19638 |                                424 |
| Tamil Nadu        |              42741 |              11032 |                                553 |
| Telangana         |                195 |                  0 |                                  1 |
| Tripura           |               8437 |               1540 |                                238 |
| Uttar Pradesh     |              29658 |                211 |                                 10 |
| Uttarakhand       |               1522 |                  0 |                                  0 |
| West Bengal       |              35702 |               6776 |                                 49 |
| Andaman Offshore  |                  0 |                  0 |                                  0 |
| Eastern Offshore  |             353547 |             214280 |                                576 |
| Western Offshore  |             436154 |              90480 |                               1150 |
| Total             |            1188725 |             393655 |                               7607 |

Source: Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd., Oil India Ltd. (OIL)