About Rs 170,000 crore (Rs 1,700 billion) is likely to be invested in the oil and gas sector during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period with a view to attaining energy security, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said on Wednesday.
"Public sector oil companies are likely to invest over Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion) during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2002-07) while another Rs 60,000-70,000 crore (Rs 600-700 billin) is likely to come from the private sector," he said at the inauguration of Petrotech exhibition in New Delhi.
Naik said to be able to sustain an eight per cent economic growth rate, the role of petroleum fuels is pivotal.
"We are importing more than 70 per cent of our total requirement of crude oil to meet demand. In this context, we will have to ensure the sustained availability of indigenous oil and gas to reduce undue burden on our economy. This can only be ensured through increased domestic availability," he said.
In the 70 exploration blocks awarded under the New Exploration Licensing Policy in the past three year, a cumulative investment of $4.3 billion (Rs 14,500 crore) in three exploration phases is expected, he said.
"Our current mandate shall be to optimise the production from the existing fields and accelerate exploration and development activities in frontier areas particularly in deep water," he added.
To encourage exploration and production of new sources of energy, the government has formulated a Coal Bed Methane policy, under which it has awarded 8 blocks, Naik said.
"For a country like India, with a resource potential of about 1000 billion cubic meters of gas from coal deposits, award of 8 blocks is just the beginning of development of yet another vital source of energy, hitherto untapped in our country," he said adding the government would come out with another round of CBM blocks early next fiscal.
More oil and gas blocks would be offered under the fourth round of NELP in April, he added.