The Hindu Business Line : Petroleum Ministry to lay down open acreage exploration norms

The Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, said there could be different categorisations for different types of blocks such as virgin versus promising areas.

New Delhi , Aug 10

THE Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, today said that he was open to adopting the concept of open acreage for the Indian exploration sector.

In an interactive session titled `Open Acreage to Attract FDI - Strengthening India's Hydrocarbon Road-map' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today, Mr Aiyar said, "I am absolutely open to Open Acreage. Let us think in terms of open acreage and also define the role of work programmes, technical capabilities and be willing to go on a single bid basis giving nominations to those willing to bid."

The Minister further added that there could be different categorisations for different types of blocks such as virgin versus promising areas. The Ministry is expected to put out a draft road map to prepare for open acreage.

Mr Aiyar emphasised the importance of collating seismic data for open acreage to become a reality. Expanding and accelerating our seismic surveys and interpretation of these is the key to enabling India to explore the prognosticated reserves of 30 billion tonnes both through the open acreage and the NELP routes.

While discussing the roadblocks to open acreage, Mr Aiyar also said that there is a pressing need to encourage service providers in the industry. To this end the Minister suggested that the "CII could, in a collaborative effort, develop an information and networking Web site. This site could build information about technology, right from seismic survey onwards and could enable the Ministry to tailor policies based on inputs received."

Agreeing that open acreage is important for India to explore its reserves, Mr Aiyar said that we should also have several NELP rounds running simultaneously but at different stages to enable many more companies to participate in the bidding process.

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