MINISTER OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS AND PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI MANI SHANKAR AIYAR)
(a) The details of oil & gas discoveries made by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Oil India Limited (OIL) and Private/ Joint Venture Companies during last three years i.e. from April, 2002 to March, 2005 are given in the Annex.
(b) The total investment made on exploration activities by ONGC and OIL in last three years is given below:
(figures in Rs. Crore)
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
ONGC 1927.61 2542.3 3277.69
OIL 276.1 314.9 327.75
ONGC and OIL have the 10th Five Year Plan Outlay of Rs. 33,418.95 crore and Rs. 5,000 crore respectively. In addition, M/s Cairn Energy (India) Pty. Ltd. has planned to invest US $1.44 billion as development cost of the 4 discoveries declared as commercial in the State of Rajasthan. The approved investment plan for development of gas discoveries made in Krishna Godavari Basin by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) consortium is about US $ 2.5 billion.
(c) & (d) It may be noted that after a discovery is made, it is appraised to establish its commerciality on the basis of reserves and, later, techno-economic feasibility. Once commerciality is established, a development and production plan is prepared to exploit the oil and gas reserves.
From the oil discoveries made in the Rajasthan block operated by Cairn Energy India Pty. Ltd., oil production is expected to commence during the year 2007-08 and may peak at 6 Million Metric Tonnes per Annum.
From the gas discoveries made in the Krishna Godavari deepwater block operated by Reliance Industries Limited, gas production is expected to commence during the year 2008-09 with a plateau production rate of 40 Million Standard Cubic Metre per Day (MMSCMD).
Any increase in domestic oil and gas production helps in reducing the import dependence of the country to that extent.
