Survey To Assess Oil, Gas Reserves At Rs 4.448 Crore In Five Years: Minister Gopi

Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Suresh Gopi, stated this in a reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The question was posed by Sana Sathish Babu MP, whether the Centre had undertaken any studies or research into undiscovered oil and gas reserves in the last five years and details pertaining to volume of reserves discovered and steps taken for their utilisation.

The minister, in his reply, stated that studies, research and survey were taken up to assess the potential of oil and gas reserves in the country including in AP, under the National Seismic Programme, Airborne Gravity Gradiometry and Gravity Magnetic Survey, Exclusive Economic Zone Survey and Mission Anveshan.

Accordingly, the Centre under open acreage licensing policy and discovered small field policy has awarded 112 blocks and drilled 101 exploratory wells. The surveys/studies were conducted for sedimentary basins and these were not restricted to specific states or limited by state boundaries.

Gopi added that certain basins like underdeveloped resources and unexplored frontier basins were prioritised for geo-scientific studies.

Moreover, the Centre had approved Mission Anveshan in 2024 at a cost of Rs 792 crore and seismic data for 7,392.42 line km had been acquired under it.

It had also initiated certain measures to attract investment, promote technology transfer and expand strategic petroleum reserves.

The MP raised an unstarred question to the Union minister for coal and mines, G Kishan Reddy, in the Rajya Sabha on the total funds collected under the district mineral foundation in AP in the last five years, the list of mineral extracted in Kakinada, revenue generated, the details of projects taken up and completed by availing DMF funds.

The Union minister for coal and mines, in his reply, said that in Kakinada district, DMF funds were collected to the tune of Rs 2.43 crore for 2022-23, Rs 4.61 crore for 2023-24 and Rs 2.88 crore for 2024-25.

For Kakinada district, the minerals extracted and revenue generated include for 2024-25: road metal Rs 6.34 crore, gravel Rs 0.89 crore, laterite Rs 36.86 crore, colour granite Rs 0.06 crore, fire clay Rs 0.20 crore, china clay Rs 0.04 crore, other clays Rs 0.005 crore and ordinary earth Rs 0.28 crore.