India has increased the size of its oil and natural gas resources by 50% because of better data, according to the country’s oil regulator.
The South Asian nation has raised its potential hydrocarbon resources to about 42bn metric tonnes from the 28bn estimated more than two decades ago, said Atanu Chakraborty, head of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. Little more than a quarter of that has been proven, leaving scope for new players to unlock the remainder through exploration, he said.
“There are about 222bn barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas yet-to-be-found resources in India,” Chakraborty said in an interview at his office near New Delhi. “It’s a whole lot for which investors will be looking on very eagerly.”
India is one of the world’s fastest growing energy consumers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is allowing investors the rare freedom of deciding the areas they want to drill in as he seeks to boost production and cut India’s oil imports by 10% by 2022. The world’s biggest explorers have largely shunned exploring in India, often preferring to put their money into countries with better prospects.
Now, India is offering incentives including simpler permits, tax breaks and freedom from pricing restrictions to attract explorers and expertise.
As many as 55 blocks will be auctioned on today covering about 60,000 square kilometres (23,166 square miles). These blocks have been carved out by explorers themselves, under the so-called Open-Acreage Licensing Programme that was introduced in June last year. The blocks will be awarded to winning bidders by June, Chakraborty said.
The agency has received interest mostly for areas in the north-eastern state of Assam, the country’s oldest oil-producing region, and the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west.
The country’s total sedimentary area has also expanded to 3.3mn square kilometres from 3.14mn, Chakraborty said. India is spending more than 29bn rupees ($453mn) for appraising new areas, comprising more than half of its sedimentary area.
Modi’s government is seeking to gather data of hydrocarbon resources for the nation’s entire exploitable area by 2019 under the National Seismic Programme, which will further boost oil and gas prospects and attract exploration.
“God has not changed anything, but our knowledge of petroleum availability has increased,” Chakraborty said. “As more data is available, higher will be exploration and larger will be our reserve accretion.”

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