Mumbai Government-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is eyeing stakes in overseas oil blocks, primarily in Africa and Kazakhstan, as it looks to beef up its portfolio of producing and disco

Oil and gas exploration companies like British Gas and Essar Energy want clarity on pricing and gradual linkage to international price for making shale gas investments. After Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)’s experience with the D6 gas allocation, some also suggested the government should not have an allocation policy for shale gas. Other critical issues highlighted by the companies relate to land acquisition, water availability and handling. These companies submitted their comments to draft shale gas policy last month.

The government is looking to launch the first shale gas auction by December 2013 and is working on the policy that could be finalised by year-end. Hydrocarbon found in the form of shale gas has, over the past few years, transformed the energy scenario for the world’s biggest energy consumer, the US. RIL, India’s largest private oil company, has acquired shale acreages in the US.

Uncertain policy framework, scarcity of cheap domestic gas hit govt plan to expand network to 200 cities
SHREYA JAI & MITUL THAKKAR NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD

Each discovery in oil block to be treated as separate cost centre, if proposal gets nod

In a major revamp of oil and gas exploration, the government is likely to notify a policy disallowing companies from deducting as expenses all exploration costs in areas where earlier discoveries are under development or production. It is expected to create a regime whereby each discovery will be treated separately for the purpose.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) did not try hard enough to complete the committed work in 75 per cent of the blocks it had acquired through bidding. Also, ONGC could not monetise the discoveries made during the 2002-2011 period, leading to low production.

The CAG report on ONGC’s hydrocarbon exploration efforts said the company did not complete its committed work in 25 prospective blocks, drilling only 30 of the 90 committed wells in the specified period. The auditor said the company had succeeded in monetising only two of the 56 offshore discoveries and 73 of its 158 discoveries during 2002-2011. “Non-monetised offshore discoveries contained major reserve accretion,” the report stated.

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is eyeing stake in Russia’s ambitious Arctic Ocean oil and gas projects with US major ExxonMobil and Italian energy giant ENI.

OVL on May 4 wrote to Russian state oil company Rosneft expressing interest in taking stake in one of the three joint ventures announced to explore for oil and gas beneath Arctic Ocean, sources privy to the development said.

Desperate to reverse the falling output at its KG-D6 block, Reliance Industries (RIL) has proposed to drill the first exploration well in almost five years in the flagging gas fields at its own cos

Include exploration & production in NEIIP list, say energy companies.

New Delhi Falling KG-D6 output, costly imported LNG hem in power plants

India's gas-based power stations are facing an uncertain future. Depleting output from Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 block and non-availability of adequate infrastructure to handle liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports are set to trigger suspension of about 7,000 MW of generating capacity, further widening the large gap between power demand and supply.

New Delhi The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is likely to consider awarding of eight more oil and gas blocks that were offered in the ninth round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), on Tuesday.

The government had offered 34 areas for exploration and production of oil and gas in NELP-IX in 2010 and bids for 33 were received at the close of bidding on March 28 last year. Of these, CCEA in March awarded 16 blocks to firms, while bids for 10 blocks were rejected due to bidders offering lesser than expected profit petroleum.