Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said India is taking steady, confident steps towards oil self-sufficiency and, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the country is securing its energy future, step by step.
Taking it to social media platform X, the minister said, “While 1 million square km offshore area is now open for oilfield exploration, 99 per cent of ‘No-Go’ areas have been cleared.”
“Twentyfive blocks under OALP-X; 154 exploration blocks active; 14 new oil and gas discoveries; Rs 792 crore invested in Mission Anveshan; 6,200 GLKM seismic data already collected; ONGC producing 34,000 BOPD oil and 3 MMSCMD gas,” he mentioned.
The oil and gas blocks being offered under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) have already garnered attention from global and domestic energy players, and Round X is expected to set new benchmarks for participation and investment.
Puri also said this is a great time for entrepreneurs and industry leaders to look at oil and gas exploration in India. It has never been easier, faster, or more profitable to invest in India’s energy future.
In a separate development, Hardeep Singh Puri also slammed the European Union for threatening sanctions on countries, including India, for purchasing Russian oil amid its war with Ukraine.
He claimed that the European Union, a group of states threatening sanctions, is the largest buyer of Russia’s LNG exports, followed by China and Japan.
“In terms of LNG or natural gas, the EU was the largest buyer, the EU is purchasing 51 per cent of Russia’s LNG exports, followed by China, 21 per cent, and Japan, 18 per cent,” Puri said.
According to the provisional data, in FY 2024–25, India’s oil dependency climbed to around 88.2 per cent. In fiscal year 2023–24, India imported approximately 87.7 per cent of its crude oil needs.
For the period April–December 2024 (9 months), dependence was about 88.1 per cent, allowing just ~11.9 per cent of demand to be met by domestic production.