Dear Stakeholders,

Warm greetings from DGH.

As India prepares itself for “Amrit Kaal”, we are tasked with solving the quadrilemma of energy access, affordability, and availability with security at its pivot. The role of E&P sector in ensuring India’s energy security cannot be overemphasized. Global geopolitical developments have made it clear that reduction in hydrocarbon imports and corresponding increase in domestic production is absolutely imperative.

Government of India is committed to promoting the domestic exploration and production sector by encouraging investments in both fairways and frontier basins. The current licensing regime (HELP) provides globally competitive fiscal incentives to companies willing to take up exploration acreages in frontier basins. Some of the incentives include graded royalty structure, 7-year royalty holiday for deep and ultra-deep water basins and no revenue sharing until windfall gains for Category II and Category III basins. I would encourage you to avail such incentives by participating in the ongoing OALP rounds. OALP round VIII has 10 blocks on offer of which 4 are in Deep/ Ultra-Deep water. The Mega Offshore Bid Round (OALP IX) has 26 blocks on offer covering 2.2 lakh sq. km., of which 15 blocks are in Deepwater/ Ultra-Deep water. These blocks, which will require significant investments, hold the promise of taking India several steps closer to energy security.

To make investment decisions easier, DGH is focussing primarily on 2 D’s: data and demystification.

DGH has been driving a number of data acquisition and value-addition initiatives under the aegis of MoPNG. The National Seismic Program, launched to explore the unappraised onland areas, is completed. We have acquired, processed, interpreted and made available nearly 46,960 LKM of 2D seismic data. The ongoing EEZ survey is expected to acquire ~80,000 LKM of 2D seismic data over the next year. We are actively exploring the Andaman Basin; we have acquired over 22,000 LKM of 2D data in the region and government is planning to fund the drilling few exploratory wells in the region. All these new data along with the existing legacy data will be made available through the National Data Repository. The National Data Repository is being upgraded to a cloud-based, state-of-the-art facility, with virtual data rooms for investors to access the E&P data from any corner of the globe at any point in time.

DGH is continuously demystifying the processes for statutory clearances and contract management system. This will enhance the Ease of Doing Business and therefore will drive further investments in the sector. Self-certification for PSCs has been enabled and the same will be extended for HELP, DSF and CBM fields shortly. In another initiative, DGH has adopted the Petroleum Resources Management System guidelines for reporting the hydrocarbon resources in the country. PRMS is a global language used by international oil companies and financial institutions to refer to hydrocarbon resources. Adoption of this language will make it easier for global companies to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of India and make investment decisions.

These initiatives and reforms are testimony to the fact that DGH, under the guidance of MoPNG, is devoted to the goal of making India the next hotspot in the global E&P map. At DGH, we assure full support in terms of supporting your journey of participating in the OALP rounds, resolving your concerns, and creating a more enabling environment for E&P investment in India.

Director General, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons