Global oil and gas giant BP Plc on Monday urged India to make itself more competitive in framing the contracts for exploration of oil and gas sector in the country.
Criticising the pace of policy changes, the Group chief executive Robert Dudley added that slow pace of decision making is not good for Brand India and efforts to control retail pricing will not be good for the sector in long run. He said that his company and partner Reliance Industries that had committed $6 billion will produce at least 10 per cent of India's total gas demand from the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin by 2022.
"BP is the only supermajor with a major commitment to the upstream segment in India," he said, adding that India has taken several steps like Hydrocarbon Exploration And Licensing Policy (HELP) and Discovered field rounds. However, he asked the country to be more competitive in terms of upstream contracts like Brazil and Mexico.
BP took over 30 per cent stake in multiple oil and gas blocks in India operated by RIL way back in 2011. In KG-D6 Block, RIL has a participating interest of 60 per cent, BP has around 30 per cent, while the remaining 10 per cent is owned by Niko Resources. Since then, the two companies have invested around $2 billion in deep-water exploration and production.
He added that though there is a perception that India is challenged with oil and gas resources, it is blessed with a great market and whatever increased production will not be enough to fill it. Talking about rising international crude oil prices, he added that there is no uncertainty in crude oil prices now and many things that can happen in the next 45 days may take prices upwards or downwards.
Dudley's comment on controlled pricing comes days after the oil marketing companies -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) -- absorbed Rs 1 each on prices of petrol and diesel early this month.
He added that the company's investment pace in India was affected by the gas pricing and once the Narendra Modi government came up with the new gas pricing, that problem was sorted out. He also indicated that it is not keen on going for further investments in upstream sector in India for the ongoing round under Open Acreage Licensing Policy, as it already is doing heavy investments.