New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules 2025, which have been notified recently, will introduce a paradigm shift in India’s quest to strengthen and boost domestic production of hydrocarbons, and provide momentum to efforts towards achieving India’s energy security.

The minister highlighted the case of the ONGC’s commercial oil discovery at Ashok Nagar in West Bengal, which was made in 2018 but still has not been put into production because of the dispute between the state government and ONGC over the “value of the lease” on which stamp duty should be paid.

However, with the Oilfields (Regulation & Development) Amendment Act, 2025, which has now been passed into law, all ambiguity around what counts as the “value of the lease” has been clarified. The new rules also stipulate a time limit on approvals. Any application for a petroleum lease now has to be decided within 180 days. The new rules have now cleared the way for starting production from the ONGC’s oilfield in Ashok Nagar, 50 km from Kolkata.

Instead of forcing companies to juggle multiple licences at different stages, a single petroleum lease now covers exploration, development, production, and even related activities like renewable energy projects, the minister further said.

The ONGC has already spent over Rs 1,000 crore on exploration and appraisal in the Ashoknagar oilfield, yet production hasn’t started. West Bengal has not earned any royalty or revenue either. Thus, both parties lost out due to the ambiguities in the rules.

The minister also informed the Rajya Sabha recently that production from the ONGC’s oilfield in Ashok Nagar could now start within the next few weeks. And an issue that’s been stuck for years, now has a clear way ahead.

The Petroleum Minister earlier said that India’s energy journey is entering a new era as 7 sedimentary basins are under study with advanced technology for the exploration of oil and gas across the country.

“Mission Anveshan, one of the largest seismic mapping programmes for oil and gas in India’s history, has been launched under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. The Rs 792 crore programme launched in October 2024 is targeting 20,000 ground line kilometres (GLK) of seismic surveys, of which over 8,000 GLK has already been surveyed,” he stated.

“From the sands of Rajasthan to the sea depths of the KG Basin – Bharat is mapping its own energy future,” the minister remarked.

While a 1 million square km offshore area is now open for oilfield exploration, 99 per cent of ‘No-Go’ areas have been cleared, he said.

The oil and gas blocks being offered under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) have already garnered attention from global and domestic energy players, and Round X is expected to set new benchmarks for participation and investment.

He has highlighted that “25 blocks have been marked under OALP-X; 154 exploration blocks are active; 14 new oil and gas discoveries; ONGC producing 34,000 BOPD oil and 3 MMSCMD gas”.

–IANS

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