'Policy decisions to unlock Rs2.5 lk cr investment in oil&gas'

Policy announcements in the oil and gas sector this year will help unlock Rs 2.5 lakh crore investment and aid in domestic gas production, said Sashi Mukundan, Chairman CII National Committee on Hydrocarbons and BP India head.

Decisions like giving pricing freedom to gas produced from difficult fields like deepwater will help unlock 10-15 trillion cubic feet of reserves, he said.

Investment in exploration, development of discovered reserves, enhanced oil recovery schemes and technology will be Rs 2.5 lakh crore to Rs 3 lakh crore by 2022, he told reporters after the industry chamber had a session with Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on gas economy.

"Had a close-door interaction with Confederation of Indian Industry on 'Gas roadmap for India; Perspective on Way Forward'. I assured of transparent and progressive policies of Government which would help create a developed gas economy," the Minister said in a facebook post later.

Stating that CII National Committee on Hydrocarbons has developed the Oil and Gas Roadmap, Mukundan said "there is potential to double India's domestic gas production and increase oil production by around 15 per cent in the next 5-7 years with the caveat that policy levers and fiscal incentives needed to unlock potential of India's hydrocarbon reserves are put in place. The good news is that cognizant of the need for policy reforms in the sector, the Government has already implemented some key policy initiatives." Emphasising on the role natural gas will play in reducing import dependence and addressing the climate challenge, he said, gas has a very high input multiplier and induces greater production activity in the economy.

With policy interventions share of natural gas in the energy basket can increase to 15 percent by 2030 from current 7 percent, he said.