Northeast Indian oil production to be doubled by 2025

Oil exploration acreage and production in India's northeast will be doubled by 2025, while state-owned refiner IOC's Digboi refinery capacity will be expanded, the country's oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said today.

In a conference to showcase the upstream oil and gas opportunities in the northeast states of India, the minister said that exploration acreage in the region will be expanded from the current 30,000km² to 60,000km² by 2025, while oil and gas production will be doubled from 9mn tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) to 18mn toe over the same period.

Puri also said that the capacity of IOC's 13,000 b/d Digboi refinery in Assam will be expanded, following the request of the state's chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Digboi refinery is India's oldest operating refinery.

The oil minister did not divulge any addition details on the expansion plans, but said that oil and gas projects in the region worth one trillion rupees ($13.6bn) were approved and are expected to be completed by 2025.

The minister also said that only 2bn toe of resources has been discovered in the region, which has an estimated potential of 7.6bn toe.

A special bidding round under the open acreage licensing programme for the northeast region, with acreage being carved out by the government, will be offered with additional incentives for attracting investments, he added.

"With concerted efforts by industry and governments, oil production is expected to increase by 67pc from 4.11mn t in 2020-21 to 6.85mn t in the next 4 years," Puri said.

India is the world's third biggest energy consumer and imports nearly 84pc of its crude needs.

By Sathya Narayanan