Page 6 - AsianOil Week 31 2021

AsianOil SOUTH ASIA AsianOil

India promises closer co-

operation with upstream investors

POLICY THE Indian government has promised to work He said: “Somebody said 20 years ago [deal-
more closely with private and foreign upstream ing with the Directorate General of Hydrocar-
investors as it seeks to turn around an ongoing bons] DGH was a dreadful experience. I don’t
slump in oil production. know why they regard only DGH as a dreadful
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Har- experience. 20 years ago anything to do with the
deep Singh Puri said on July 30 that the govern- government was a dreadful experience. I mean
ment would maintain an open-door policy when it. I was a civil servant for 39 years.”
it came to resolving investor issues. The DGH, however, is currently working to
“The government stands ready to partner streamline the country’s upstream licencing pro-
with you both in the identification of what cess. Last month the oil ministry’s technical arm
remedial steps we need to take in the ecosystem simplified the upstream permit process for leg-
and what [we] need to do to overcome hurdles,” acy fields, reducing the number of compliance
he said during an investor presentation for the processes required by acreages awarded prior to
country’s latest discovered small field (DSF) bid the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) era
round. from 37 to just 18.
India launched its third DSF auction on June Indian crude production shrank by 5.2% year
10, offering 32 contract areas that cover 75 dis- on year in financial year 2020-2021 to 30.5mn
coveries and have 232mn tonnes (1.7bn barrels) tonnes (612,500 barrels per day) from 32.17mn
of combined potential resources. tonnes (646,000 bpd) in 2019-2020.™
Noting that New Delhi wanted greater pri-
vate and foreign investment in the upstream,
Puri said: “If anyone, anywhere in the world is
thinking of good investment in energy, India is a
good place to begin.”
Highlighted the country’s promising
economic growth potential, he added: “My
doors are open... tell me what is it we have
to do to make sure that you are able to take
business decisions.”
Puri also highlighted that the country had
come a long way in terms of its ease of doing
business, noting that dealing with the govern-
ment 20 years ago had been extremely difficult. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.

IOC-Petronas JV to enter

Indian retail fuel sector

PROJECTS & INDIA’S state-run Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) and as the government strives to encourage compe-
COMPANIES Malaysian state-major Petronas plan to expand tition in the country’s fuel retail space.
their joint venture’s interests to include the South The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
Asian country’s retail fuel market. granted seven new fuel retail licences last month
IndianOil Petronas, which is already active in under more relaxed sector guidelines that were
the liquid petroleum gas (LPG) segment, intends introduced in 2019.
to begin selling gasoline, diesel and natural gas, The winners of the new licences include
Reuters quoted IOC chairman Shrikant Madhav Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Reliance BP
Vaidya as saying on July 30. Mobility (RBML) Solutions India, oil terminal
The decision to expand the retail offerings of operator IMC, local government-owned gas
its joint venture, a move Vaidya said should not distributer Assam Gas, newly incorporated
eat into his group’s existing market share, comes Onsite Energy, conglomerate M K Agrotech

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 31 05•August•2021