(a) the production of natural gas in country during the last three years;
(b) the quantum of gas allocated to the States during each of the last three years, State-wise; and
(c) the steps taken to increase the production of natural gas in the country?
MINISTER OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS AND PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI MANI SHANKAR AIYAR)
(a): Production of natural gas in the country during the last 3 years, namely 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, was 29.71, 31.39 and 31.96 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM), respectively.
(b): The information is being collected and will be laid on the Table of the House.
(c): Several important steps have been taken to increase oil and gas production. These include the following:
(i) improving the recovery factor from existing major fields by implementing Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)/Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) schemes; in particular, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.(ONGC) have taken up 15 fields for this purpose at an estimated investment of Rs. 10,972 crores, which would also help in accelerating oil production from these fields;
(ii) increasing exploration efforts through the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP); Under the four rounds of NELP, Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) have been signed for 90 blocks. The Fifth Round of NELP has been declared open from 4th January, 2005 to invite bids for 20 exploration blocks;
iii) exploring new areas, especially in deep water and difficult frontier areas, as also the deeper layers of already producing fields;
iv) developing the newly discovered fields speedily and stepping up the use of new technologies for seismic surveys, work over, stimulation operations, drilling of wells etc. in producing areas;