NEW DELHI: The Union Petroleum Ministry has strengthened the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) by giving it more powers, which include designing stringent disclosure norms for new discoveries and monitoring the Government revenue.

"The objective of the delegation of statutory powers is to empower the DGH so that it can effectively oversee ever increasing exploration and production activities in India with more areas coming under exploration with successive rounds of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and Coal Bed Methane (CBM),'' the Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The DGH now enjoys power under the Petroleum and Natural Gas (PNG) Rules 1959 to ensure that the E&P (Exploration and Prospecting) companies follow the best practices by spending minimally and by creating a level playing field under a product-sharing contract.

Questions were raised on the powers of the DGH after Niko made announcements of trebling of gas reserves estimated in the Krishna-Godavari Basin. The announcement had the DGH up in arms against Niko as announcements of oil or gas discoveries are price-sensitive information from the stock market perspective and need to be regulated. The Central Government has delegated these powers vested in it under the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948, and the PNG Rules. The powers mainly cover monitoring of upstream activities, including CBM operation, review and monitoring of exploration and development programmes, reservoir monitoring with a view to optimising hydrocarbon recovery, maintaining data repository, laying down norms for declaration of hydrocarbon discoveries and monitoring Government revenue such as royalty and profit petroleum.

To exercise this delegation, the DGH, with the approval of the Central Government, will prepare transparent guidelines.

However, in respect of the contract, signed by the Government, the DGH will exercise the powers in accordance and consistent with the respective contracts. The Government has also amended Rule 19 of the PNG Rules to enable the Government/DGH to get all data from licensees/lessees free of cost as and when they are acquired and become available.

"All non-proprietary data can be disclosed by the Government at any time and proprietary data can be disclosed with the consent of the licensees/lessee at any time and after five years from the date, from which such data become available or termination of license/lessee, whichever is earlier at the discretion of the Government,'' the Petroleum Ministry said. — PTI

NELP: Deora's caution

New Delhi Special Correspondent writes:

The Petroleum Ministry has urged the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons to be "very careful" with the bidding process for the sixth round of the new exploration licensing policy. The last date for submission of bids is September 15.

According to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, the DGH has been asked to make changes, if needed, at this stage rather than later. He made this comment following allegations by some domestic players that arbitrary changes had been made in the evaluation norms for the recently concluded round for coal bed methane blocks after the closing date for receiving bids.

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