(a) whether the Government’s crude oil import bill during the current year has increased in comparison to the previous year;
(b) if so, the facts thereof;
(c) whether the Government have formulated any strategy to bring down the oil import bill and to increase indigenous production of crude oil; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS AND PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI MANI SHANKAR AIYAR)
(a) & (b): The import bill during the current year (April-December, 2004) was Rs 85,541 crore against Rs 60,450 crore of the previous year (April-December, 2003).
(c) & (d): Government have taken the following steps to meet the growing demand for oil:
i. to improve 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 Limited (ONGC) has taken up 15 fields for this purpose at an estimated investment of Rs. 10,000 crore, which would also help in accelerating oil production from these fields.
ii. to increase 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.
iii. exploration by ONGC and OIL in the blocks allocated to them on nomination basis.
iv. to explore in new areas, specially in the deep water and difficult frontier areas, as also explore in deeper layers of already producing fields.
v. to develop faster newly discovered fields and to step up the use of new technologies for seismic surveys, work over, stimulation operations, drilling of wells etc. in producing areas.
vi. to acquire acreages abroad. ONGC-Videsh Ltd.(OVL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Gas Authority(India) Ltd. (GAIL) and Oil India Ltd.(OIL) have participation in acreages abroad. OVL has presence in 10 countries.