Oilfield amendment bill to give policy stability: Hardeep Puri

The petroleum & natural gas minister said govt's reforms agenda to make it easier to find and produce crude oil & natural gas will continue

GREATER NOIDA (UP): A bill to amend the existing law governing exploration and production of oil and gas will provide policy stability to investors as also promote ease of doing business, Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.

Speaking at the Geo India 2024 conference in Greater Noida, on the outskirts of the national capital, the minister said the government's reforms agenda to make it easier to find and produce crude oil (which is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel) and natural gas (which is used to generate power, make fertilizer or turned into cooking gas and CNG) will continue.

He promised interference-free administration.

"If you have a private sector company which is family owned, you still have interference. But if you have well run state oil companies as our oil firms are, and you have a minister like me, you will have zero interference. I have said that repeatedly," he said.

The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in August and is likely to be approved in the ensuing winter session of Parliament later this month.