The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas aims to be ready with a new policy for auctioning hydrocarbon blocks by the end of the fiscal, said Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas.

“The consultation paper is out now and the feedback from stakeholders will come by November 20. Based on the feedback we will make a new policy and take it to the cabinet. Our efforts are to finalise the policy within this fiscal year itself,” Pradhan told reporters at the sidelines of the Bio Energy Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry.

According to the consultation paper, the Ministry proposes to give pricing and marketing freedom for natural gas produced from hydrocarbon blocks auctioned in the future. It also proposes to introduce a uniform licensing policy, revenue sharing contract as well as an open acreage licensing policy.

“This is not something very radical that we have done. In the last few months we had come out with a marginal field policy also and all these issues came out then,” said Pradhan.

“For the new bidding rounds, the aim was to make it more progressive, more transparent and more market friendly. This is why the consultation paper has been released. Now the stakeholders will give their feedback and then we will decide on it. The Ministry does not have a view as of now,” he added.

Meanwhile, speaking at the summit, Pradhan said that the falling crude oil price will not change the Government’s targets and commitments towards increased green energy usage.

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