Kelkar Committee on oil and gas invites comments from stakeholders

NEW DELHI: The Vijay Kelkar committee, which has recommended ways to substantially reduce India’s energy import dependency by 2030, has invited comments from stakeholders on this matter by Apr 19, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons ( DGH), which is a technical arm of the oil ministry, has said in a statement.

Oil Minister Veerappa Moily has constituted the committee recently and asked it to suggest steps for enhancing domestic oil and gas production from the unconventional energy sources.

The committee will also propose institutional mechanism for appraisal of India’s sedimentary basins and suggest effective utilization of Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) cess for appraising the unexplored and partly explored acreages, it said.

The government wants to cover appraisal of 75% of Indian basins by 2015 and 100% by 2025.

Moily has asked the committee to submit its recommendations in six months, DGH officials said.

The government wants the committee to suggest policy measure that would help in developing and promoting indigenous service industry in exploration and production of oil and gas.

The committee will also review existing institutional mechanism to acquire oil and gas assets abroad and also for importing gas through transnational gas pipelines.