Context:
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas initiated the 9th bidding round under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).
- Ministry also signed contracts for blocks awarded under OALP Bid Round-VIII and awarded 3 Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Blocks under Special CBM Bid Round-SCBM 2022.
Coal Bed Methane (CBM):
- An unconventional natural gas primarily found in coal deposits.
- Mainly composed of – Methane gas, with trace amounts of ethane, carbon dioxide, and water.
- Formation process – Coalification (transformation of plant material into coal)
- Uses – Power generation, CNG auto fuel, feedstock for fertilisers, Industrial uses such as in cement production, rolling mills, steel plants, and for methanol production etc.
- Large reserve in India – Gondwana sediments of eastern India
India has the 5th largest coal reserves in the world with country’s coal and CBM reserves are found in 12 states of India.
Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP):
- Introduced in 2016.
- A part of Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP).
- Under OALP, companies are allowed to carve out areas they want to explore oil and gas in.
- Enables investors to select blocks of their choice by evaluating data in the National Data Repository (NDR) and expressing interest.
- NDR – a government data bank promoting exploration and production (E&P) activities.
About HELP:
- Replaced New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).
- Key Features –
- Provides for a Single license for E&P for all types of hydrocarbons viz. conventional oil and gas, CBM, shale oil, gas hydrates, etc.
- Shifted from the previous profit-sharing model to a Revenue Sharing Contract model (i.e., revenue is shared between the government and the contractor).
- In profit-sharing model, the profit was shared after cost recovery.
- Reduced royalty rates, marketing and pricing freedom, round the-year bidding, etc.
Status of exploration in India’s Sedimentary Basin:
- Offshore acreage of more than 1 Million Sq. Km. has been made available in the recent past for E&P operations.
- After OALP-IX and X Bid Rounds, around 16% of the Indian Sedimentary Basin Area is expected to be under exploration by the end of 2024.
- Presently, only 10% of this area is actively explored.
Source: Economic Times
Previous Year Question
With reference to the ‘National Intellectual Property Rights Policy’, consider the following statements:
It reiterates India’s commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and the TRIPS Agreement.
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion is the nodal agency for regulating intellectual property rights in India.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2017 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (c)
