Link - Govt nod to 84k cr scheme to boost offshore oil & gas exploration energysecurity
- The Union Cabinet on Friday gave its nod to a Rs 84k-crore scheme aimed at boosting oil and gas exploration and production from the country’s offshore basins, and reducing the dependence on imported energy.
- The ambitious ‘Samudra Manthan’ scheme, or the National Offshore Exploration Scheme, will provide financial support for exploratory drilling in deep-sea and ultra-deep-sea areas and support building of common infrastructure for production of discovered hydrocarbons in offshore areas, apart from funding offshore data acquisition and developing hydrocarbon manufacturing and services zones.
- The Scheme encompasses a comprehensive set of interventions across the offshore exploration value chain. It provides for large-scale acquisition, processing and interpretation of high-quality seismic data, accelerated deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploratory drilling, scientific drilling in frontier basins, development of common offshore production and evacuation infrastructure, and establishment of an integrated Oil & Gas Manufacturing and Services Zone
- India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and also a major consumer of natural gas, but has a high degree of import dependency - over 88% for oil and about 50% in the case of natural gas. This makes the country’s economy vulnerable to global energy market volatility, and even poses supply risks, as has been witnessed during the ongoing West Asia crisis. Moreover, the country’s energy demand is on the rise, while domestic production is stagnant.