NEW DELHI: Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal urged the government to give incentives for the oil and gas exploration in India in line with production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
Agarwal, in a social media post said that the government is giving subsidies or incentives in all key sectors, but nothing to the oil and gas sector.
“Government is giving subsidies or incentives in all key sectors whether agriculture, electronics or pharma. But not for anything below the ground including oil and gas despite imports touching almost $100 per barrel,” said Agarwal.Vedanta’s Cairn Oil & Gas is one of the India’s largest private sector exporter and producer of oil . The company targets to contribute around 50% to India’s total oil and gas production. The company’s footprint covers a total acreage of 65,000 square kilometres, and during FY 2023, the Company reported average gross operated production of 143 kboepd.
Agarwal suggested various reforms including slashing taxes to maximum 30% in line with international benchmarks. He also batted for reforms in licensing norms. Agarwal said that currently, a licence for a well is given only for 10 years, and thus he asked the government to give license for life of the well or at least 70 years for maximum investment. “Clearances take a very long time and delay the process of exploration and production. We need to introduce self-certification to avoid these delays,” said Agarwal.
Agarwal said India is rich in oil and gas, and has reserves three times of its annual consumption. Despite the reserves, the country has to import almost 90% of its energy needs. He also highlighted that India’s oil demand will double in the next 20 years from 5 million barrels per day to over 10 million barrels a day.