32 oil and gas blocks get conditional nod

Reports indicate that 32 oil and gas blocks received conditional clearance from the defence ministry.

The defence ministry has sought a realignment for five of these blocks, which are part of the Krishna Godavari basin, as they overlap with existing notified IAF range areas.

This would entail realignment of these five NELP blocks by the Ministry of Petroleum to exclude portions that lie within the existing IAF ranges in order to avoid any collateral damage during practice firing of air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons by Indian Air Force.

This was informed by Manish Pathak, Director, navy in an official memorandum sent to the petroleum ministry.

Pathak also said that the blocks overlapping with the naval exercise areas would be subject to existing rules. Exploration firms will not locate any pipelines or structure on sea surface in the blocks cleared for exploration and production activities.

Submerged permanent structures, if any, be located more than 100 metre below sea surface or outside the DRDO and Indian Air Force danger zone area. By the petroleum ministryÂ’s claims, the 32 blocks together spell a Rs 80,000 crore investment opportunity.

Further, the memorandum said seven blocks, which fall in the same area as the proposed extended IAF range at Suryalanka and had been declared no-go areas, may be cleared for exploration activities till June 2014.