Reforms in Oil and Gas sector-Dill Mangey More

Reforms in E & P Sector With a growing population of 1.4 billion and one of the major emerging economies in the world, India has a promising future in the global energy mix. Being one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world, its share in the global energy demand is expected to double by 2050. The government of India has committed itself to the goal of energy justice for all its citizens. For this, oil and gas will be a crucial element of India’s energy security despite clean energy sources gaining momentum. Reducing import dependence of oil and gas by enhancing domestic production has been the cornerstone of recent revolutionary reforms by the government of India to improve energy security and self reliance. Intensified exploration, enhanced recovery and monetization of discoveries are determined to be the three levers to achieve this substantially. Government has taken a lot many initiatives and continuously putting persistent efforts towards production maximization for the ever-increasing energy needs of the country coupled with a facilitating business environment defines the government’s upstream mission. But the never the less the idiom- Dill Mangey More continues to be the order of the day. Besides Shifting from Cost sharing regime to Revenue sharing regime, there are legal framework which needs to be addressed, too . One of the key bottlenecks in enforcing higher safety standards in the sector is the multiplicity of safety regulators. OISD is the safety regulator for just the offshore fields while Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) and Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) divide responsibilities for all onshore activities, including exploration, refineries and distribution terminals. There are certain misunderstood overlapping statutory provisions under the Rule Book of DGMS and PESO which in turn is delaying the process of early execution of the project as well as early production of hydrocarbon .Thus the concept of early monetisation is defeated. For example- to minimise the flaring of gas as per Govt directives even during the early well testing of the oil gas well - the idea of compression of Natural gas and selling thro Cascades for CGD is hindered by gas Cylinder rules under PESO because of lack of clarity of various provisions of PESO and DGMS – Oil Mines Regulation 2017. So it would be better to bring all all safety regulations to come under one institution for fast approval and monitoring for which it is learnt that MOP &NG is of the opinion for creation of an umbrella organisation to deal with safety standards of all oil and gas installations.