Govt Aims To Increase Domestic Gas Production By 75 Per Cent In 3 Years

Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has declared that oil and gas exploration and production operators along with the national oil companies are progressively working towards realizing production levels of 40 million tonnes (MT) of crude oil and 50 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas by FY24.

These production targets were briefed to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan when he recently assessed a presentation by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons on “Exploration and Production Action Plan 2023-24.”

Pradhan is understood to have invigorated the industry to expedite their production and exploration activities by implementing a greater use of technology and geo-scientific data.

Moreover, the operators were also assured of adequate support to augment gas and oil domestic production for a thoroughly secure energy future.

The indigenous production of natural gas serves only around 51 per cent of the country’s necessities. On the other hand, India imports about 85 per cent of its total crude oil requirements, which has created an additional dependency on the volatile middle-eastern region on this front.

However, a recent trend suggests that India recorded a 22.7 per cent year-on-year growth in natural gas production in April 2021 owing to Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum’s ultra-deep-water field in the KG D6 Block of the Krishna Godavari basin on the east coast.

Similarly, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is slated to kick off gas production in one of the neighbouring fields soon, reports Financial Express.