ONGC has discovered 230 MT of oil reserves in the last three years: Pradhan

ONGC has discovered 230 MT of oil reserves in the last three years: Pradhan

Pradhan said ONGC had a total oil reserve of 459.84 million tonnes as on April 1 this year that are spread over 16 assets

New Delhi: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday that state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has discovered over 230 million tonnes of oil reserves in the last three years. While responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, Pradhan said that ONGC had a total oil reserve of 459.84 million tonnes as on April 1 this year.

Reserves spread over 16 assets

Pradhan said that ONGC's oil reserves are spread over 16 assets. He added that the exploration and production company produced 21.11 million tonnes of oil in the fiscal year that ended on March 31 (2018-19). In the last three financial years, ONGC's total oil output stood at 65.66 million tonnes.

Govt working to reduce dependence on oil imports

While responding to a separate question, Pradhan said that the government had constituted a committee that has been tasked with preparing a roadmap for reducing the country's dependence on energy imports by 10 percent by 2021-22. Currently, India imports more than 83 percent of its total crude oil requirement and half of its natural gas requirement. The panel has suggested a "five-pronged strategy (that) broadly comprises of increasing domestic production of oil and gas, promoting energy efficiency and conservation measures, giving thrust on demand substitution, capitalising untapped potential in bio-fuels and other alternate fuels/renewables and implementing measures for refinery process improvements," Pradhan said.

'Govt has taken major reforms to boost oil & gas output'

The minister said that the Centre has ushered in several policies and taken steps to enhance exploration and domestic production of oil and gas. "These include a policy of extension of contracts for existing fields, policy for relaxations, discovered small field policy, Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), policy for early monetization of coal bed methane (CBM), setting up of National Data Repository and appraisal of unexplored areas in sedimentary basins," Pradhan said. "The government in February 2019 approved major reforms in exploration and licensing policy to enhance exploration activities, attract domestic and foreign investment inunexplored/unallocated areas of sedimentary basins and accelerate domestic production of oil and gas from existing fields," the Union minister said.

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