A Bill seeking to amend the existing law governing oil and gas exploration and delink petroleum operations from mining to attract investments in the sector got Parliamentary approval on Wednesday with the Lok Sabha passing it.

The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 3, 2024.

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The Bill seeks to amend the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948, which regulates the exploration and extraction of natural gas and petroleum.

Replying to the debate on the Bill, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said prices in the neighbourhood are at least 15–25 per cent higher than in India.

”Similarly, prices in Western Europe and the United States are much higher. It is only in India that prices have come down,” he noted.

In a post on X, Minister Puri said,” Historic day in India’s quest towards energy security and energy self-sufficiency under the dynamic and firm leadership of PM Sh @narendramodi Ji. Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill 2024 successfully passed in Lok Sabha today!”

He said, ”Far-reaching amendments made in the existing legislation will further strengthen and propel India’s energy sector under the leadership of PM Modi Ji, and ensure policy stability, international arbitration, extended lease periods etc. ”

In a detailed post, the minister said,”The present global energy scenario and the hydrocarbon landscape has dramatically changed. Hence, there was a need to amend the Act to reflect current realities, national priorities, promote Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), decriminalize provisions and align India’s Exploration and Production (E&P) framework with practices of competing geographies. By virtue of the fact that we are going to rely on conventional energy for some time we need to step up our exploration and production activities.”

He said today’s successful passage of the bill will be a constructive and positive step in this direction.

”Utilisation of energy is a reasonably good indicator of economic performance. Today we are consuming 5.5 Million Barrels of crude oil in a day. Just three and a half years ago this consumption was 5.0 Million Barrels. If we continue to grow at the rate at which we are, we will go upto 6.5-7.0 Million Barrels Per Day. India’s transformation to being #ViksitBharat will require a large amount of energy in all forms. Steps have been taken to enhance India’s energy exploration and production. ”

The minister said, ”Earlier one-million sqkm area of our sedimentary basin used to be a ‘No Go’ area. As a result, our import dependence was on the rise. We opened up one million sqkm out of the 3.5 million sqkm of sedimentary basin to encourage and enhance domestic crude production. This has sent positive signals to prospective investors. 76% of total area under exploration has come under active exploration only since 2014.”