India's Hydrocarbon Outlook – 2022-2023

26 DGH: 3 DECADES OF UNLOCKING INDIA'S HYDROCARBON POTENTIAL Under SCBM Bid Round- 2021, four (4) Blocks were awarded to 03 companies (ONGC, Vedanta and Invenire Petrodyne Energy) covering an area of 3862 Sq. Km. Special CBM Bid Round 2022 under OALP (SCBM-2022): On October 10, 2022, the government initiated the second round of the Special Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Bid Round, in which 16 CBM blocks spanning an approximate area of 5817 square kilometers were made available for bidding through an International Competitive Bidding process, which will conclude on March 17, 2023. It is worth noting that all the offered 16 blocks are situated within Category-III basins. Refer Chapter - 7 for more details 4. National Gas Hydrates programme (NGHP) Gas hydrate exploration in India is steered by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas under National Gas Hydrate Program (NGHP). Two expeditions, the first in 2006 (NGHP-01) and the second in 2015 (NGHP-02) were undertaken. Under NGHP-01, 39 holes were drilled to explore the presence of gas hydrate at 21 sites in Krishna-Godavari (KG), Mahanadi, Andaman, and Kerala-Konkan Basin. Except Kerala-Konkan, the presence of gas hydrate was established in all three basins, but such gas was proved to be non-exploitable with existing technologies. Under NGHP-02, 42 holes were drilled at 25 sites in KG and Mahanadi Basin. Sand reservoirs with gas hydrate were located at two places in KG Basin and the considered to be prospective for future production testing. International and national experts engaged through MoU under NGHP advised that future production testing should be undertaken in three phases. Phase 1 was proposed to deal with integration and interpretation of data acquired under NGHP-01 & 02 campaigns. Phase-2 would involve acquisition of additional data to better- understand the subsurface integrity required for successful production testing. Phase-3 was proposed to conduct production testing at selected sites. Currently, Phase-1 activities are underway at various places in India, Japan and USA. 5. Discovered Small Field Policy, 2015 The Marginal Field Policy, later renamed as the Discovered Small Field (DSF) Policy, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on September 2, 2015 and notified in a notification on October 14, 2015, in order to bring previously un-monetized discoveries of National Oil Companies (NOCs) into production. The first DSF Round was launched on May 25, 2016. On February 7, 2018, the CCEA approved an extension of the policy to include un-monetized discoveries and small fields from the Production Sharing Contract regime, in addition to un- monetized discoveries from the Nomination regime. The second DSF Round was launched on August 9, 2018. The government has also decided to extend the DSF Policy for future bidding rounds and has established a committee, consisting of Additional Secretary& Financial Advisor (MoPNG), JS (Exploration), MoPNG and Director General of Hydrocarbons, to identify fields and discoveries that will be put on offer for future bidding rounds, in consultation with the CMDs of ONGC and OIL. The extension of the DSF Policy was notified in a notification on April 5, 2018.