"ONGC has done a heroic job of maintaining production from its ageing fields. (But) there is an apprehension that there will be a natural steep decline in production," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said at the India Economic Summit in New Delhi on Monday.
Most of the country's prime fields have peaked and face the possibility of a natural decline setting in. ONGC has maintained crude oil production at over 26 million tonnes for the past few years.
"We need to jack up domestic production by bringing new areas under exploration," he said, adding 80 per cent of India's prognosticated reserves have not yet been explored.
Aiyar said the government would introduce new terms in the next round of bidding for exploration acreage and plans to introduce Open Acerage policy for the first time on experimental basis next year.
"We want companies to bid for the blocks they want and not ask them to quote for blocks we offer," he said, adding the new policy would encourage foreign companies to come to India.
"We do not want foreign companies for their money but the technology and entrepreneurship of another order they would bring in," he said.
"If we have to grow at 7-8 per cent, them our production of 32 million tonnes of oil will have to go up by half as much over next 20 years. Similarly, gas production of over 90 million standard cubic meters per day will have to reach 200 mmscmd over next 20 years," he said.
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