The union government, which is looking at enhancing the country's oil exploration and production capacity to reduce import burden, will soon launch the tenth round of the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (Nelp-X). The government has also ruled out one-time hike on diesel and any hike in the prices of LPG and kerosene, while maintaining that there is a need to cut down the subsidies.
Petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan told dna, "The tenth round of Nelp will be launched soon. And we will address all the issues that have been associated with the earlier rounds of the new exploration policy. The import bill needs to be reduced and the domestic production will need to be given a significant push. Curtailing the imports is also important from the current account aspect."
Going forward, the government will closely monitor ONGC and OIL Ltd, which account for more than 90% of the production in the country. "This is the challenge. ONGC will have to increase its performance. They will have to focus on the core areas. In the last 10 years of the UPA rule, the production and exploration activities have derailed," he said.
In 2004, the country produced 683,000 barrels of crude oil per day and consumed 2,42,962 barrels. In 2011, while production went up to a mere 782340 barrels, the consumption grew to 3,42,6000 barrels per day.
It seems that the onus of bringing down the subsidies will lie with the domestic manufacturers as the government is not in favour of any hike in prices. "There will be no hike in LPG and kerosene oil prices. Also, diesel will prices keep rising continuously in the current calibrated process. There will be no one-time hike in the diesel prices," said Pradhan.
On the gas pricing issue, Pradhan said the government will come out with a new formula within the stipulated timeframe announced by the Cabinet. Without revealing anything about the government's thoughts on gas pricing, he said the government has stated its position.
The ministry is also sending its reply to the Comptroller and Auditor General on its recent revelations that oil marketing companies are making undue profits owing to the pricing mechanism of oil products, which have a lot of notional inputs.
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