A Parliamentary panel has expressed disappointment at the slow pace of work on assessment of the country’s hydrocarbon resources carried out by the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons.

“The Committee is dismayed to note that out of 26 sedimentary basins and deep offshore areas upto Exclusive Economic Zone, only 48 per cent of the basin area has been appraised. Therefore, currently, a large number of sedimentary basins have either no or scanty data and require additional geo-scientific data coverage,” the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Last assessment The report titled ‘Functioning of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons’ states that the last assessment of hydrocarbon resources base was done more than 20 years ago which shows all policy makers in poor light especially the DGH.

To correct the situation, the Committee recommended that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas should constitute a multi-organisational team to review thoroughly all the exploration activities in details being carried out by upstream public sector oil companies for each block, investment made, technology deployed, prospects and production.

The Committee also expressed apprehension on whether ONGC and Oil India Ltd, who have been entrusted with the task of surveying 48 per cent of the unapprised areas of the country, will accord priority to such work.

Better specialisation “The Committee also wonder as to why more agencies which may have better specialisation in such works were not engaged through global tendering. The Committee recommend that the Ministry should try to expedite completion of the project at the earliest and also seek funds from the Ministry of Finance so that the project does not get delayed further,” the report stated.

In order to improve the manpower at DGH, the Committee also recommended that it should have its own cadre of employees for discharging its functions independently.

“The Committee, therefore, recommend that the hiring of a consultant should be completed on priority basis within a reasonable time frame and that the DGH should be restructured suitably to develop it with permanent cadre of employees after receipt of the report thereon,” the report stated.

Related Topics