The oil and gas sector plays a vital role in influencing decision making for all the other important sections of the economy as it is among the eight core industries in India.
The need for oil and gas is projected to grow more in the near future, thereby making the sector quite conducive for investment. To fulfill the increasing demand, government of India has adopted several policies. The government has allowed 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in many segments of the sector, including natural gas, petroleum products, and refineries, among others.
The reports states that India had 4.5 thousand million barrels of proven oil reserves at the end of 2018 and produced 39.5 million tons in 2018. As of 1 April 2019, India had a network of 10,419 km of crude pipeline having a capacity of 145.6 MMTPA.
Market Size
India is expected to be one of the largest contributors to non-OECD petroleum consumption growth globally. India retained its spot as the third largest consumer of oil in the world in 2017 with consumption of 4.69 mbpd of oil in 2017, compared to 4.56 mbpd in 2016. Gas pipeline infrastructure in the country stood at 16,226 km at the beginning of February 2019. India’s domestic crude oil production in July 2019 is 2.769 million metric tons (MMT). As of 2017, the country had 600 (MMT) of proven oil reserves.
In pursuit of enhancing hydrocarbon ONGC makes constant efforts to induct state-of-the-art technology for higher precision and real time data acquisition in reservoir characterization. The recent endeavour is the deployment of wireless Surface read out technology during the Drill Stem Testing Operation in Well WO-24#3.
Investments
According to data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Policy (DPIIT), the petroleum and natural gas sector attracted FDI worth US$ 7.018 billion between April 2000 and March 2019.
Following are some of the major investments and developments in the oil and gas sector:
- ExxonMobil and ONGC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for offshore blocks.
- ONGC has raised US$ 300 million under the External Commercial Borrowing route.
- In December 2019, INDMAX refining technology owned by Indian Oil Corporation Limited's (IOCL's) has been licensed to Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) of Serbia.
- In November 2019, winter-grade diesel suitable for extreme winters launched.
- MOU signed between NSIC & ARAMCO Asia for development in Oil & Gas Sectors.
- Foreign investors will have opportunities to invest in projects worth US$ 300 billion in India, as the country looks to cut reliance on oil imports by 10 per cent by 2022, according to Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India.
