Govt tries to dissuade BHP Billiton from exiting India
13 Dec 2013 4:51 AM IST
BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's largest miner, in October said it has exited nine out of its 10 oil and gas exploration projects in India as it could not start operations for want of defence approval. Also, Australia's Santos wants to exit its two exploration blocks in Bay of Bengal as it hasn't been able to start work due to maritime boundary dispute with Bangladesh and defence restrictions.
Aranane Giridhar, joint secretary (exploration) in the Oil Ministry said the government is trying to convince BHP to stay invested in the country and it will try to remove impediments.
'BHP left country not because of Oil Ministry. It left because of sacrosanct defence establishments that have to be protected. Santos left because of maritime dispute with Bangladesh not because of Oil Ministry,' Giridhar said.
'We are talking to them... We are trying to work out something that we can give them,' he told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th Petro-India 2013 conference here. One option being mulled is to allow Oil and Natural Gas Corp to buy a majority stake in the blocks and let the state-owned firm take over the job of getting the approvals, he said.
'The idea is that they (BHP) retain 20 or 25 per cent stake in the blocks,' he said. BHP has given a notice for relinquishing nine exploration blocks it was awarded between 2008 and 2010 under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) after it failed to secure clearance from the Defence Ministry. It wants to exit the 6 Mumbai basin blocks it was awarded with GVK in the seventh round of NELP in 2008 and three blocks areas it had won in NELP-VIII round. Giridhar said the defence ministry hasn't put a 'no-go' restriction on the blocks but has only told BHP that it should come to it before building a permanent structure in the offshore.
Asked if the Defence Ministry could at that stage deny permission for putting any structure to aid production of oil and gas, he said, 'that won't be.'
For a sector already grappling with regulatory issues and lack of pricing and marketing freedom, pullout by BHP and Santos ahead of the 10th round of NELP may be bad news for Oil Ministry's effort to attract foreign investors to boost domestic production.
The Oil Ministry is looking at offering as many as 86 blocks or areas for exploration of oil and gas in the 10th round of NELP.
This will be the largest offering of blocks since the advent of NELP in 1999.
‘RIL-BP will invest $10 billion to quadruple gas output by 2020’
New Delhi: Global oil giant BP Plc and its partner Reliance Industries Limited will invest $5-10 billion to quadruple natural gas production by 2020.
RIL-BP, which are currently producing about 11.8 million standard cubic metres per day of gas from the flagging eastern offshore KG-D6 block, is targeting newer fields in KG-D6 block and gas discoveries in neighbouring north-east coast and Cauvery basin to raise output. ‘An opportunity awaits the BP/RIL joint venture to quadruple production by 2020 as we rework the fields and get into the next phase of development of already discovered resources,’ BP India head Sashi Mukundan said at the 12th Petro India conference here.
He said RIL-BP sees more potential in the blocks that the joint venture holds.
‘At BP we are committed to find more oil and gas globally including India where we are focused, along with our partner, on exploration, development and production in deep waters in the East Coast.
‘I do believe there is a huge potential to find more hydrocarbons in the Indian basin and our presence, investment and track record to date is a testimony to this,’ he said.
RIL-BP, he said, are focused on unlocking the next major hub for development in the East coast of India.
‘Our Joint Venture alone could reveal a prize of over $100-150 billion for India by avoiding costly imports.’
Later talking to reporters, he said the production could rise to ‘40 or 50 or 60 (mmscmd)’ by 2020. ‘We have been talking about an investment of $5-10 billion,’ he said.
BP, which in 2011 invested $7.2 billion in India, sees the new production coming from the 11 satellite discoveries in the KG-D6 block, five finds in NEC-25 and two discoveries in Cauvery block. ‘What is important is that we need to have clear pricing policy (for raising output),’ Mukundan said.
KG-D6 has seen output drop from almost 70 mmscmd achieved in March 2010 to under 12 mmscmd currently due to water and sand ingress in wells and drop in reservoir pressure. 10 out of the 18 wells on the main D1&D3 fields have shut down due to the same reason.
Aranane Giridhar, joint secretary (exploration) in the Oil Ministry said the government is trying to convince BHP to stay invested in the country and it will try to remove impediments.
'BHP left country not because of Oil Ministry. It left because of sacrosanct defence establishments that have to be protected. Santos left because of maritime dispute with Bangladesh not because of Oil Ministry,' Giridhar said.
'We are talking to them... We are trying to work out something that we can give them,' he told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th Petro-India 2013 conference here. One option being mulled is to allow Oil and Natural Gas Corp to buy a majority stake in the blocks and let the state-owned firm take over the job of getting the approvals, he said.
'The idea is that they (BHP) retain 20 or 25 per cent stake in the blocks,' he said. BHP has given a notice for relinquishing nine exploration blocks it was awarded between 2008 and 2010 under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) after it failed to secure clearance from the Defence Ministry. It wants to exit the 6 Mumbai basin blocks it was awarded with GVK in the seventh round of NELP in 2008 and three blocks areas it had won in NELP-VIII round. Giridhar said the defence ministry hasn't put a 'no-go' restriction on the blocks but has only told BHP that it should come to it before building a permanent structure in the offshore.
Asked if the Defence Ministry could at that stage deny permission for putting any structure to aid production of oil and gas, he said, 'that won't be.'
For a sector already grappling with regulatory issues and lack of pricing and marketing freedom, pullout by BHP and Santos ahead of the 10th round of NELP may be bad news for Oil Ministry's effort to attract foreign investors to boost domestic production.
The Oil Ministry is looking at offering as many as 86 blocks or areas for exploration of oil and gas in the 10th round of NELP.
This will be the largest offering of blocks since the advent of NELP in 1999.
‘RIL-BP will invest $10 billion to quadruple gas output by 2020’
New Delhi: Global oil giant BP Plc and its partner Reliance Industries Limited will invest $5-10 billion to quadruple natural gas production by 2020.
RIL-BP, which are currently producing about 11.8 million standard cubic metres per day of gas from the flagging eastern offshore KG-D6 block, is targeting newer fields in KG-D6 block and gas discoveries in neighbouring north-east coast and Cauvery basin to raise output. ‘An opportunity awaits the BP/RIL joint venture to quadruple production by 2020 as we rework the fields and get into the next phase of development of already discovered resources,’ BP India head Sashi Mukundan said at the 12th Petro India conference here.
He said RIL-BP sees more potential in the blocks that the joint venture holds.
‘At BP we are committed to find more oil and gas globally including India where we are focused, along with our partner, on exploration, development and production in deep waters in the East Coast.
‘I do believe there is a huge potential to find more hydrocarbons in the Indian basin and our presence, investment and track record to date is a testimony to this,’ he said.
RIL-BP, he said, are focused on unlocking the next major hub for development in the East coast of India.
‘Our Joint Venture alone could reveal a prize of over $100-150 billion for India by avoiding costly imports.’
Later talking to reporters, he said the production could rise to ‘40 or 50 or 60 (mmscmd)’ by 2020. ‘We have been talking about an investment of $5-10 billion,’ he said.
BP, which in 2011 invested $7.2 billion in India, sees the new production coming from the 11 satellite discoveries in the KG-D6 block, five finds in NEC-25 and two discoveries in Cauvery block. ‘What is important is that we need to have clear pricing policy (for raising output),’ Mukundan said.
KG-D6 has seen output drop from almost 70 mmscmd achieved in March 2010 to under 12 mmscmd currently due to water and sand ingress in wells and drop in reservoir pressure. 10 out of the 18 wells on the main D1&D3 fields have shut down due to the same reason.
Next Story
