Question : Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas Reserves

(a) the details of crude oil and gas reserves available/ discovery made in the Indian Ocean with United Sates of America along with the percentage of crude oil and gas produced by public and private sector companies and achievements made by them during the last three years and the current year, company/oil field/State/UT-wise;
(b) whether there are any technical challenges involved in the production of natural gas from the said reserve and if so, the concrete steps taken in this regard;
(c) the details of survey conducted/proposed to be conducted by public/private sector companies and number of exploratory oil and gas wells discovered/awarded in the country including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat along with quantum and average cost of crude oil/gas produced by the said companies, State/UT/company/oil field-wise;
(d) the steps taken to cover the pending oil royalty with oil producing companies in the country including Assam and curtail the State deficit, company-wise;
(e) the efforts made by the Government to conduct new research and technology in the area of oil and natural gas exploration including use of fracking technology to prevent damage to forest cover and possible contamination of ground water; and
(f) whether seismic survey of 26 basins are proposed to be conducted by the Government to collect accurate data for hydrocarbon fields with a view to address the concerns of the investors and first survey is proposed to be conducted in Mahanadi basin under National Seismic Programme, if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS
(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) & (b) In collaboration with United States of America and Japan under a Memorandum of Understanding research and exploratory activities have been out in Krishna Godavari and Mahanadi area in sand reservoirs for gas hydrates. As per preliminary estimates, 134 Trillion Cubic Feet of gas hydrates are present in KG-Basin. Further drilling / coring / logging and analytical studies of the subsurface data are required to establish this gas hydrate resource. Gas hydrate programme in the country is at Research and Development Stage.
(c) The details of survey conducted/proposed to be conducted by public/Pvt. JVs alongwith exploratory oil and gas wells drilled including the State of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat are at Annexure-1. The production cost of companies vary from field to field depending upon size of the reservoir, location, logistics, availability of surface facilities etc.
(d) As per the directives issued by the Government of India in May 2008, ONGC and OIL were making payment of royalty to State Governments at post discount price for the period 01.04.2008 to 31.01.2014. However, State Governments of Gujarat/Assam demanded royalty to be paid at pre-discount price. Recently all the stake holders reached an agreement and it was decided that an amount of Rs. 8392 crores and Rs. 6306 crores will be paid by the Government of India directly to the Governments of Gujarat and Assam respectively for the dues of royalty for the period from April, 2008 to Jan, 2014. The payments will also be made to similarly placed States.
(e) Traditionally oil and gas wells are vertically drilled. Technological advancements have allowed operators to save time, reduce operational costs, and lessen their environmental impact. New drilling technologies include the following techniques:
? Horizontal Drilling
? Multilateral Drilling
? Extended Reach Drilling
? Complex Path Drilling
(f) Government of India has started the National Seismic Programme (NSP) which aims to undertake an appraisal of sedimentary basins across India, especially where no/scanty data is available in order to have a better understanding of the hydrocarbon prospectivity. Under this programme Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited has been entrusted to carry out 40835 LKM of 2D seismic data acquisition, processing & interpretation (API) in 22 onland Indian Sedimentary basins in 18 States and Union Territories. Oil India Limited (OIL)
has been entrusted to carry out 7408 LKM of 2D seismic data acquisition, processing & interpretation (API) in the North-Eastern States. The survey started in Mahanadi Basin in Odisha in October, 2016.
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