India has started a major step towards energy self -sufficiency and started a campaign to search and produce oil and gas in an area of 2.5 lakh square kilometers within the sea. The government has opened the doors of international technical cooperation for this strategic project and a partnership with many countries is going on.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has confirmed that the project is being launched as a deepwater hydrocarbon search in the eastern and western offshore areas of the Indian maritime border. The region extends to the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal and scientific surveys have exposed the possibilities of oil and natural gas here. Deepwater means the depth of the sea where there is a discovery of oil-gases by going beyond traditional low-depth areas. This work is done in more than 500 meters deep areas.
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Government invited foreign oil companies and technical experts institutions
Government companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India are playing lead roles under the project. The government has also invited foreign oil companies and technical experts institutions to participate in this campaign. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) continues to be considered for cooperation with technically advanced countries like Norway, Russia and America. The government has issued global tenders for multi-client cosmic data acquisition, 3D sub-surface mapping and state-of-the-art deepwater drilling techniques. Through these techniques, stores will be tested by digging up to 3,000 meters at the depth of the sea. Open monitor licensing policy is a policy under which companies can choose preferred areas without waiting for the government’s formal auction to discover hydrocarbons such as oil and gas.
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13 lakh crores spent on import of crude oil
India spent more than Rs 13 lakh crore on import of crude oil in the year 2023-24. This heavy import bill also puts pressure on India’s current account deficit and foreign exchange reserves.
