New Delhi, July 9 : India plans to explore and drill for oil and gas with a whole new momentum across 2.5 lakh sq kms in Round 10 under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), Minister of Petroleum and Nautural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday at the 9th OPEC International Seminar in Austria's capital, Vienna.

'Being close to discovering a Guyana-scale oilfield in the Andaman Sea, India is in the midst of one of the most ambitious plans to enhance the efforts to drill for more and further enhance hydrocarbons exploration in the country under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,' the minister informed the captains and professionals of the global energy sector at the seminar.

He highlighted that India's target is to increase the country's exploration acreage to 0.5 million sq km by 2025 and 1.0 million sq km by 2030.

This ambition is supported by a series of policy reforms in including shifting from a Production Sharing Contract regime to a Revenue Sharing Model under HELP, and amendments to ORD Act 1948 to provide a robust framework for managing leases, improving safety, enabling dispute resolution, and supporting the integration of renewable energy sources in hydrocarbon projects, Puri explained.

He said that this is in addition to reducing 'No-Go' areas by 99 per cent, thereby freeing up over 1 million sqkm for exploration and production, and significant investments in basin data acquisition through national projects such as the National Seismic Program (NSP), Andaman Offshore Project, Mission Anveshan, and the Extended Continental Shelf Survey, thereby laying a strong data-driven foundation for India's upstream growth.

Puri further stated that as the world's third-largest energy consumer with a demand of about 5.4 million barrels of oil per day, India's energy strategy is rooted in pragmatism, resilience, and fairness.

'India is both a structural growth engine and a long-term stabiliser of global oil markets. We will contribute about 25 per cent of incremental global energy demand growth in future,' he observed.

The minister said that India was navigating today's volatile global energy landscape through a multi-dimensional approach that includes diversifying our crude import sources from 27 to 40 countries now, enhancing domestic production, developing alternative fuel sources and transitioning towards a gas-based economy.

India is also aiming to become a global refining hub by increasing its refining capacity to 310 MMTPA by 2028 and augmenting the petrochemical capacity to be a $300 billion industry by 2030, he added.

Puri said that even as the world was dealing with geopolitical difficulties, India successfully navigated through the trilemma of energy availability, affordability and sustainability. It was the only major economy in the world to reduce fuel prices even as oil prices skyrocketed around the world. India aims to achieve energy independence by 2047 and reach net-zero emissions by 2070.

He further stated that India strongly believes that biofuels are a critical pillar in the global energy transition, especially for countries balancing development and decarbonisation.

'We launched the Global Biofuels Alliance, which has over 29 countries and 14 international organisations, working together to scale up sustainable biofuels. Domestically, India is accelerating the use of ethanol, CBG, biodiesel and SAF as part of our decarbonization roadmap,' the minister added.

/IANS