Sixth NELP Round a huge investment opportunity: Oil Secy

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan today said the sixth round of NELP has evoked tremendous interest from companies in India as well as abroad.

''The sixth round provided a huge opportunity for the private investors since the government has already taken all clearances including the environmental clearances, which are needed,'' Mr Srinivasan said at the National Council meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.

In the biggest offer so far, the Government has offered 55 blocks, which comprise 24 deepwater blocks, 6 shallow water blocks and 25 onland blocks in NELP-VI.

Mr Srinivasan said that India had good reserves of one billion tonnes each of oil and gas.

''India needs to scale up its exploration since it consumes about three per cent of the total oil and gas in the world and this figure is only bound to rise and therefore needs to be addressed,'' Mr Srinivasan said.

The Petroleum Secretary also called upon the private sector to partner the government in making India a large hub in the hydrocarbon sector.

He said this sector is witnessing interest from many countries and already 4.5 billion dollars worth of investment has been committed by the private sector in this sector in India.

UNI SR SD KN1814