(a) whether the Union Government has announced a three year moratorium on deep water
drilling of oil;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor and the objectives thereof;
(c) the number of blocks come under moratorium;
(d) the names of the companies to whom these blocks belong; and
(e) the total oil production likely to decrease annually in the country due to this move ?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS(SHRI JITIN PRASADA)
(a) to (d):Yes Madam. Government has approved a proposal for granting drilling   moratorium
for 3 years starting 1st January, 2008 to 31st December, 2010 to thirty (30) deepwater blocks
under the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) regime signed upto New Exploration & Licensing
Policy (NELP) –V, where drilling commitments (except development drilling) remained
unfulfilled as on 1st January, 2009.
There was sudden spurt in exploration activity worldwide since 2007 due to the then high crude
oil prices, which led to acute shortage of the deepwater rigs worldwide. The non-availability
of the deepwater rigs adversely effected the completion of the minimum work commitments by
various contractors of the deepwater blocks in their respective current exploration phases.
The operators of these deepwater blocks requested the government to grant a drilling moratorium
of 3 years to mitigate the situation caused by the deepwater rig shortage so as to enable them
to complete their drilling commitments envisaged under the PSCs .
The drilling moratorium was granted to enable the operators to fulfill the exploratory and
appraisal drilling commitments which could not be completed due to global shortages of
deepwater drilling rigs during that time.
The company-wise number of blocks where Drilling moratorium was granted are as under.
Operator No. of blocks granted drilling moratorium
ONGC 16
RIL 13
ENI 1