India is seeking to accelerate exploration and production operations with a new policy on geoscientific data generation.
The policy has a one-time project fee that replaces the model of profit-sharing after cost recovery.
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) will administer the policy on behalf of the government of India, which will own the data.
M. Veerapa Moily, minister of petroleum and natural gas, said permission for data surveys will be granted through a “nonexclusive multiclient survey agreement.”
Under the new policy, service providers will complete surveys within 2 years. Project fees will be $10,000 for the 2-year period. Agreements with service providers will remain valid for 12 years, and service providers will be free to license data to prospective E&P companies.
The survey period can be extended as long as 12 months by paying 60% of the project fee or pro rata. A data delivery bank guarantee of $100,000 will have to be provided by the service provider to DGH.
Moily said a significant part of India is available for exploration. Inviting private investors for exploration is handicapped by the nonavailability of data.
The new policy will be a cornerstone for promoting exploration and production activities, enabling generation of high-quality geo-scientific data in a speedy manner, and encouraging deployment of advanced proprietary technologies, according to the government’s press information bureau.
