No hydrocarbon projects have been shelved by the Central government in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameswar Teli, informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
DMK MP S. Kalyanasundaram had sought to know the current status of hydrocarbon projects in the delta districts, and whether the government had shelved the projects due to opposition from farmers.
Replying to his queries, Mr. Teli said the contractors of exploration blocks awarded under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) had submitted applications to the respective State governments for grant of Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) and Petroleum Mining Lease (PML).
Mr. Teli said hydrocarbon production activities were being carried out in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, while exploration activities were being carried out in the delta districts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.
Providing details of the projects, Mr. Teli said IOCL was awarded bocks under OALP Round-II and ONGC was awarded blocks under OALP Round-III.
Under the Discovered Small Field regime, Bharat Petro Resources Ltd was awarded a block in Nagapattinam district; and under the PSC regime, a consortium of ONGC (60%) and Bharat Petro Resources Ltd (40%) were awarded blocks.
Another 21 blocks in Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore had been identified under PEL and PML regime, the Minister said.
