NEW DELHI: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, on Thursday said that he expects the new round of hydrocarbon exploration being launched in India to strike several big Guyana-sized oilfields, particularly in the Andaman Sea.
“We will drill and explore for more hydrocarbons in an area of more than 2, 00, 000 sq km under OALP (Open Acreage Licensing Policy) Round-10. Our target is to increase exploration acreage to 0.5 million sq km by 2025 and 1.0 million sq km by 2030. I am positive we will find several fields of the size of Guyana, particularly in the Andaman Sea, ” the minister said during the 'Urja Varta 2025' event here.
“We are working on areas of good quality data availability for explorers, financial incentives, stable regulatory framework, derisking investments and ease of doing business to make India the next global frontier for oil and gas E&P (exploration and production), ” Puri remarked.