India has reached out to UK-based investors to attract international public-private-partnerships (PPP) in the country's oil and gas sector with a roadshow in London.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, along with the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH), held an interactive session on Monday which attracted around 125 participants.
The session was aimed at sharing the new policy and regulatory regime in India and details of investment opportunities in the field of oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P).
"India is a bright spot in the world economic order, where demand for petroleum products is on the rise. The primary energy demand of the country will almost double in the next 12 years. This roadshow is a call to involve international partners in this journey,” said
HPS Ahuja, CEO and Managing Director of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPR).
Earlier this year, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had launched Bid Round-II under Discovered Small Field Policy (DSF) and Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) for competitive bidding.
Under OALP Bid Round II, 14 blocks will be offered with a total area of 29,233 sq km and under DSF Bid Round II, 25 contract areas are on offer covering 59 discovered oil and gas fields, spread over 3,000 sq km, the ministry said.
The DSF-II and OALP-II Bid Rounds are aligned to India's Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), which adopts the Revenue Sharing Model in an effort to improve ease of doing business in India's E&P sector. “It comes with attractive fiscal terms like reduced royalty rates and no cess, single license for all hydrocarbons, pricing and marketing freedom, freedom to exploration throughout contract period, no signature bonus and provision for sharing of common facilities,” the ministry said in a statement. Manish Singh, Minister (Economic) at the High Commission of India in London, inaugurated the Investment Promotional Event for Exploration and Production Opportunities in London, which was chaired by VP Joy, Director General, DGH.