Articles from General Knowledge Today

From NELP to OALP : Understanding the Basics.

2010- 11- 28 06:11:00 Suresh Soni

We all know t hat t he 9t h Bid round of New Explorat ion Licensing Policy (NELPIX) was launched on 15t h Oct ober, 2010.
In NELP-IX, t here are 34 explorat ion blocks (8 deepwat er, 7 shallow
wat er and 19 on land blocks) on of f er .
Recent ly Minist er of St at e f or Pet roleum & Nat ural Gas Shri Jit in Prasada
made a st at ement in Rajya Sabha t hat "action has been initiated to
establish the National Data Repository (NDR) which is a pre-requisite f or
f ormulation of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP)".
Let 's underst and what is OALP and how India plans t o shif t f rom NELP t o
OALP.
So f ar our count ry has conduct ed 8 rounds of NELP and 9t h Round is
underway. In t hese rounds we have known t hat Domest ic Companies are
act ively bidding, but most ly int ernat ional bidders have not invest ed in
explorat ion in India. So, t he Government of India is willing t o review t he current
NELP t erms and is open t o various suggest ions f or dif f erent kinds of award
polices.
What is E & P?
We know t hat exploration and extracting oil is called upstream sector of
the industry. T his is called t he E&P (Exploration & Production) business.
T his business is highly t echnology driven one and needs huge investments
and cont inuous knowledge upgradat ion.
All of us are aware t hat t he days of f inding easy oil and gas are over. Our
count ry is endowed wit h about 138 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent
of gas, but t hese yet t o be f ound resources are believed t o be locat ed in t he
f ront ier, logist ically dif f icult and geologically complex areas and deep & ult ra
deep wat ers. So, in order t o search and exploit t hese resources, t he
exploit at ion t echnologies also need t o be innovat ive.
What is the problem?
T he major problem or hurdle t o at t ract t he int ernat ional invest ment is t hat of
Data Acquisition.
Data means high quality and reliable geoscientif ic data.
T his dat a is not available in a syst emat ic f orm f or assessment of t he

underground risk. T he problems involve inadequacy / down qualit y of t he dat a

and non-availabilit y / bot t leneck t o get t he raw dat a.
How the Data Acquisition is important?
T here are various organizat ions in India t hat acquire geo-scient if ic dat a which
is relevant and necessary f or t heir act ivit ies. T his includes dat a not only f or
pet roleum explorat ion and development but f or ot her minerals also. It is very
import ant t hat t his dat a, which is acquired t hrough great ef f ort and at huge
expendit ure, is properly preserved, easily accessible and gainf ully shared f or
nat ional development .
How the Data is important?
T he dat a generat ion is a result of the ef f orts of decades of data
acquisition. For a count ry like ours, t he dat a is a "valuable nat ional asset "
and it becomes imperat ive f or us t o saf eguard and f ruit f ully ut ilize t his
nat ional t reasure. Worldwide, t he count ries save t his kind of dat a t hrough t heir
own NDR and we at home also need t o t ake init iat ives in t his direct ion.
What is NDR?
T he f irst st ep t owards resolving t he above problem is t he NDR. NDR ref ers
to National Data Repository. It is wort h not e t hat Government of India in
envisaging on an ambit ious project t o set up a Nat ional Knowledge Hub (NKH)
also known as Nat ional Knowledge Cent re (NKC) in E&P (Explorat ion &
Product ion) area in coming f ew years. T he component s of NKH/NKC will be
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Nat ional Dat a Reposit ory

Nat ional Processing Cent re
Nat ional Visualizat ion & Applicat ion Cent re
Nat ional T raining Cent re
Nat ional E&P Knowledge Port al

So, NDR is t he f irst component of NKC.

T he NDR is on a proposed state at present.
T he object ive of t he NDR is t o make a repository of reliable exploration
and production data f or India with provisions f or seamless access and
on-line data management.
T he specif ic object ives of NDR are as f ollows:
1. To validat e, st ore, maint ain and reproduce high qualit y and reliable
geoscient if ic dat a
2. To f acilit at e ef f icient dat a report ing, dat a exchange, and dat a t rading
among exist ing players including all geoscient if ic agencies
3. To improve DGH's abilit y t o monit or and cont rol t he E&P act ivit ies and
report ing

4. To encourage new E & P act ivit ies by providing high qualit y and reliable
dat a
5. T o st rengt hen overall geoscient if ic act ivit ies in India
6. To support an open acreage syst em f or an improved Global E & P
Business environment in India
7. To provide qualit y E & P dat a f or Processing, Int erpret at ion and
Visualizat ion Cent res at DGH
What is OALP and how it is dif f erent f rom NELP?
One f urt her st ep af t er our count ry has an NDR is t o shif t f rom NELP to OALP.
T he necessit y t o shif t t o OALP is as f ollows:
1. T o remove the barriers in get t ing dat a f or evaluat ion
2. T o NOT to make the investors wait f or the rounds to happen.
So, t he major dif f erence is t hat under OALP, oil and gas acreages will be
available round the year instead of cyclic bidding rounds launched under
New Exploration Licensing policy (NELP).
On November 21, 2010, t he Nint h Int ernat ional Conf erence on Nat ional Dat a
Reposit ory was organized in New Delhi, in which part ners f rom 27 count ries
part icipat ed. T here is a hope t hat Conf erence will creat e opport unit y f or all
E&P players including Oil Companies, Government of f icials and policy
f ormulat ors t o get insight int o what is being done int ernat ionally in managing
dat a, as a nat ional t reasure and inclusion of similar dat a of ot her mineral
resources t hrough t he est ablishment of NDRs.
So t he needs t o shif t f rom NELP t o OALP are summarized as f ollows:
1. Not availabilit y of Dat a especially in deep wat er, ult ra deep wat er and
f ront ier areas.
2. Part ial f reedom at present t o choose blocks.
3. E & P Companies need t o wait f orm rounds.
4. Acreages are ret ained by t he exist ing players.
What is the Current E & P Scenario in the country?
In India, t he explorat ion began cent uries ago. For almost quart er a cent ury t he
ef f ort s in oil & gas explorat ion and product ion was limit ed t o only t wo
companies viz. ONGC and OIL. Af t er NELP-I was launched a decade ago, more
t han 70 E&P companies working in India t oday. So, E&P scenario in India has
improved sat isf act orily, but st ill t here are needs t o improve t his sect or.