Domestic oil explorers should boost output: Pradhan

Domestic oil explorers should boost output: Pradhan

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 08:20 PM IST
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Jaipur : Domestic oil exploration and production (E&P) companies should adopt a radical approach to boost output and achieve energy security, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

“For the past three years, our domestic crude production is static. A radical approach is urgently required to boost our domestic output,” Pradhan said.

Pointing out that achieving energy security for the country is a challenging and complex task, Pradhan said the government has taken several initiatives for the E&P sector. “Discovery of new hydrocarbon sources should be the primary objective of E&P industry.

“I believe that a huge area in the country remains unexplored,” he said, adding that a major portion of hydrocarbon reserves in the country are in technologically challenging areas.

The minister was addressing the inaugural session of the international conference and exhibition of Society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG) here. ONGC Chairman D K Saraf said the government’s initiatives like diesel price decontrol, director transfer of LPG subsidy, and encouraging people to give up subsidy have helped the companies reduce their burden. He said the decline in price of oil in international market has helped save foreign exchange.

Nearly 1,000 delegates are participating in the three-day conference in which challenges and technological advancements in the sector will be discussed.

Referring to geoscience technologies as the key link in improving exploration for the oil and gas sector in the country, the Union Minister said there is immense potential in unappraised sedimentary basins. “We need to fast-track exploration, with collective collaboration between the government and the geoscientific community.

“This is only way to reduce our growing dependence on imported oil,” he said while citing the Prime Minister’s call to reduce import dependence by 10 per cent by 2022. Petroleum Secretary K D Tripathi said that to realise the untapped potential in the country’s sedimentary basins, especially in Mannar, Bengal and Andaman deep-waters, geoscientists need to challenge the old concepts and look for new ones.

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