Wait longer for Open Acreage Licensing
Expect more delay to government plans for a radical change in how exploration blocks are awarded under a proposed Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).
As expected with a project of this magnitude the DGH has failed to meet its March 2016 target to open the National Data Repository - India's first electronic library of information on sedimentary basins and a key pre-requisite to the launch of OALP. "Work is still underway to feed data into the repository," confirms a DGH source.
"So far we've fed in only 70% of the data available in the country." He adds it will take anything from four to six months more to input the remaining 30% data. Blame problems securing data on time from DGH departments.
Halliburton and DGH staff are working round the clock to complete the job. "It's not easy," we hear.
Once all available data is fed into the repository the oil ministry will decide when to open it to the public. Halliburton won the Rs45cr ($7.5m) contract to build and operate the repository for five years at the DGH's office in Noida on February 7, 2014.