A Bill that seeks to amend the existing law governing exploration and production of oil and gas as well as delink petroleum operations from mining operations was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (March 12, 2025). The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, is aimed at boosting investment in the sector. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in December last year. Replying to the debate before the passage of the Bill, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India is the only country in the world where in the reference period of the last three years, the prices of petrol and diesel have actually come down and this has been possible because “the Prime Minister reduced the central excise (duty) on two occasions”. The Bill intends to reform the legal framework to meet the current needs and market conditions and to make the sector more attractive to investors so that exploration and production of oil and gas could be increased further. The Bill will play a key role in India’s quest for ensuring energy availability, accessibility, affordability and security for the citizens and fulfilling the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047. Over the last decade, the Government has brought several path breaking reforms including a landmark shift from ‘production sharing’ regime to ‘revenue sharing’ regime for awarding contracts, simplified processes and reduced regulatory burden to promote exploration and production of oil and gas in India, release of previously No Go areas for new exploration, deregulation of crude as well as marketing and pricing freedom for natural gas. A crucial outcome of these major reforms, more than 76% of the active acreage under exploration in India today have been awarded post 2014.