India's oil reserves may last only till 2016
Thursday, 02 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: At the current rate of production, India's discovered oil reserves are expected to last only till 2016 if no new discovery is made, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said here Thursday. "As per the Ninth Five Year Plan document, presuming no further discoveries are made, the hydrocarbon reserves of the country are unlikely to last beyond 2016 at the production levels of 2001-02," he said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. As on Apr 1, the recoverable balance of oil plus oil equivalent of gas (O+OEG) is 1,658 million tonnes, the minister disclosed. With oil and gas finds in 19 out of 90 new exploration blocks awarded under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) over the last five years, Aiyar pointed out that reserve accretion is a continuous process. -*- Oil import bill may reach $24 bn The volatility in global oil prices is expected to see a 30 percent rise in India's import bill from $18 billion in the previous year to $24 billon this fiscal ending March 2005, Aiyar said in reply to another question. "The international prices have been quite high during 2004-05 so far. The average price of Indian basket of crude oil during April-November was about 35 percent higher than the 2003-04 average prices," the minister said. India's crude oil imports from April-October were worth $13.91 billion as against $10.18 billion in the corresponding period last year. *** LNG terminal at Kochi With a market study having established substantial demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Kerala, Petronet LNG has decided to go ahead with plans for setting up an LNG terminal at Kochi, Aiyar informed the Lok sabha. "The market study has established substantial demand for LNG," the minister said. "The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), the parent company of Kochi Refineries Ltd has offered to undertake marketing of the LNG from Kochi LNG terminal," he said. An agreement has also been reached with gas infrastructure major GAIL (India) Ltd for transporting the regassified LNG from the terminal of 2.5-million-tonne-annual capacity to customers.
Source: IANS
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