Shutterstock Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter Even as its oil and gas demand rises at one of the fastest rates in the world, India continues to struggle to increase domestic production. Policy reforms hatched by several governments in recent decades have failed to garner the foreign investment India desperately needs, as international oil companies (IOCs) continue to shun its upstream sector due to poor or inconsistent fiscal terms. That points to even greater reliance on imports in the coming years for India. Domestic crude output has slumped by 24% in the past decade to less than 575,000 barrels per day, while demand has surged nearly 40% to 5.7 million b/d. Lack of interest caused bid submissions for the eighth drilling round of the open acreage licensing policy, announced last July under the latest Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy, to be postponed for the third time, to May 2023. Even domestic explorers failed to turn up to bid for the 26 oil and gas blocks offered.
