Cabinet approves policy to improve oil recovery; petroleum minister says move will boost production in 10 years

New Delhi: In a move to boost domestic production of hydrocarbons, the cabinet on Wednesday approved a policy to incentivise improved recovery of oil and gas from aging fields. Following a cabinet meeting, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the fiscal incentives to attract investments and technology into the sector will help unlock an estimated Rs 50 lakh crore of oil and gas in the next 20 years. “The cabinet has approved a policy framework to promote and incentivise enhanced recovery and improved recovery as well as unconventional hydrocarbon production methods and techniques to improve the recovery factor of existing hydrocarbons reserves for augmenting domestic production of oil and gas,” Pradhan said. [caption id=“attachment_5170481” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, on Wednesday. Image courtesy: Screengrab from Youtube[/caption] “Because of this, new investment and technology will come and Rs 50 lakh crore worth of production will increase in 10 years,” he said. “Technological interventions have significant potential in stimulating the recovery of hydrocarbon reserves from the mature and aging fields. An increase by 5 percent in recovery rate of the original in-place volume in oil production is envisaged to produce 120 million tonnes of additional oil in next 20 years,” he said. “In case of gas, an increase of 3 percent recovery rate on original in-place volume is envisaged, leading to additional production of 52 billion cubic metres of gas in the next 20 years,” the Minister added. Pradhan said oil companies bringing in investment and new technology in exploration would be granted a 50 percent reduction in cess, while such companies in gas would get a discount in royalty of 75 percent.  The policy will be applicable to all contractual regimes and nomination fields. “The policy is expected to facilitate induction of new, innovative and cutting-edge technology and forging technological collaboration to improve the productivity of existing fields,” he said. The policy, with a sunset clause, will be effective for 10 years from the date of its notification. According to the government, the fiscal incentives, however, will be available for a period of 120 months from the date of commencement of production in such projects. “In case of improved recovery projects, the incentives will be available from the date of achievement of the prescribed benchmark. Defined timelines have been prescribed to complete the various processes under the policy,” it added. Commenting on the development, Vedanta Ltd Chief Executive (Oil and Gas) Sudhir Mathur said in a statement that the move would spur the growth of the domestic oil and gas industry. “This policy will attract much-needed investments, and usher in a wave of best-in-class technologies to improve India’s hydrocarbons recovery,” he said.