With an economy reliant on imports for 80 per cent of its crude oil and 50 per cent of its natural gas, India is focused on building a resilient, future-ready energy ecosystem, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Oil & Natural Gas, has said. Launching the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round-IX and Special Discovered Small Field (DSF) Signing Ceremony on April 15, Puri noted that India would account for 25 per cent of global incremental energy demand growth over the next two decades. He contrasted this with the 2006-16 period, when leading global energy players, including BG, ENI, and Santos, exited India’s upstream sector. “We were determined to unlock India’s untapped energy potential, estimated at approximately 42 billion tonnes of oil and oil equivalent of gas,” he said. A series of transformative reforms has expanded exploration activity, increasing the explored area of India’s sedimentary basins from 6 per cent in 2014 to 10 per cent today, with a target of 15 per cent. Puri said exploration acreage would reach 1 million sq km by 2030, highlighting a 99 per cent reduction in ‘No-Go’ areas within India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This has been driven by scientific data-led exploration, a Rs.75 billion investment in seismic data acquisition, aerial surveys, and stratigraphic wells. Under OALP Round-IX, 28 blocks across eight sedimentary basins have been awarded, covering 136,000 sq. km. Similarly, DSF Round-IV includes 55 discoveries across nine contract areas, with estimated reserves of 258.59 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE).