The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) was established in 1993 under the administrative control of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas through Government of India Resolution. Objectives of DGH are to promote sound management of the oil and natural gas resources having a balanced regard for environment, safety, technological and economic aspects of the petroleum activity.
DGH has been entrusted with several responsibilities like implementation of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), matters concerning the Production Sharing Contracts for discovered fields and exploration blocks, promotion of investment in E and P Sector and monitoring of E and P activities including review of reservoir performance of producing fields. In addition, DGH is also engaged in opening up of new unexplored areas for future exploration and development of non-conventional hydrocarbon energy sources like Coal Bed Methane(CBM) as also futuristic hydrocarbon energy resources like Gas Hydrates and Oil Shales.