Cabinet Committee on Investment cleared projects worth Rs. 33,000 crore and 25 E&P blocks for continued exploration of Oil and Gas

Monitoring of projects with investment of Rs.1000 crore and more--The Cabinet Committee on Investment has recently reviewed the status of 20 projects with investment of Rs.1000 crore or more which were pending for different types of approvals and clearances with a view to expediting decisions on approvals and clearances. The projects were identified in transmission, hydro and thermal sector where various clearances were pending for approvals with Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF). Out of the 20 projects reviewed by Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI), 13 projects involving investment of about Rs 33,000 crore have been cleared.

These 13 projects include 10 transmission projects, one hydro project and two thermal projects. One has already been recommended by the Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) of MoEF for clearance. For the other two projects Ministry of Power has decided not to move the proposal to CCI and is following up with the Ministry of Coal and for remaining four projects, matter is being followed up with state governments and other ministries/agencies for clearance.

Clearances for carrying out E&P activities in 31 NELP Oil & Gas Blocks --Out of 31 E&P blocks, the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) have cleared 25 E&P blocks for continued exploration of Oil and Gas where work had been stopped on account of security restrictions imposed by Ministry of Defence.  Out of 31 blocks, 9 blocks have been fully cleared and 16 blocks have been cleared with specific conditions. Due to clearances provided, investment has been already made to the extent of US$ 2.71 billion and further investment of around US$ 1.9 billion will be made in the exploration activities in the next 3-5 years.

However, earlier, out of the total 40 blocks where E&P activities were stopped for want of clearances from Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Commerce, 1 block was cleared by Ministry of Commerce which had overlapped with an SEZ area. Out of 8 'No Go' Blocks, objected to by Ministry of Defence, 5 blocks were cleared by CCI on 20th March, 2013. Following these clearances, total investment already made of US$ 10.7 billion in these 5 blocks will be put to use and further investment of US$ 0.6 billion is envisaged in these Blocks.

Warm regards,

Dr. S P Sharma

Chief Economist