NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday cleared the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, that seeks to amend the existing law governing exploration and production of oil and gas as well as delink petroleum operations from mining operations. The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 3, 2024.
Replying to the discussion on the bill, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India is the only country in the world where in the reference period of the last three years, the prices of petrol and diesel have actually come down. “We have brought down the prices of petrol and diesel because the prime minister reduced the central excise (duty) on two occasions,” Puri said.
Prices in neighbouring countries are 15-25% higher than in India. Equally, prices in Western Europe and the US are much higher than in India, he said.
While moving the bill for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha, Puri said it does not alter the existing level-playing field for both public and private sectors. “The oil bill aims to resolve one of the biggest grievances of global oil companies interested in investing in India by providing stability in operation, both in terms of tenure of the lease and the condition. The bill also does not alter the rights of the states, which will continue to give petroleum leases and receive royalties as before.
“The bill also does not alter the existing level-playing field and offers no preference to either the private or the public sector,” the minister said.
Among others, the bill aims to decriminalise some of the provisions of the original Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948, by introducing “penalties, adjudication by an adjudicating authority and appeal as against the order of adjudicating authority”.
Besides, it seeks to introduce ‘petroleum lease’ and expands the definition of mineral oils to include crude oil, natural gas, petroleum, condensate, coal bed methane, oil shale, shale gas, shale oil, tight gas, tight oil and gas hydrate, with a view to raising domestic output and cutting reliance on imports, he said.
Congress leader Manish Tewari, while initiating the discussion, said the draft law “lacks vision and roadmap”. Referring to oil imports, Tewari claimed that India was not “future ready”. “What is required is a roadmap to make India energy sufficient, which unfortunately is completely missing. What is the government planning to do to encourage independent oil explorers? Is there anything in the bill that incentivises them,” he asked.