The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the award of 31 contract areas as part of the Discovered Small Field (DSF) Bid Round 2016. These fields were offered under new policy for small fields known as Discovered Small Field (DSF) policy, 2015, which offers improved fiscal terms with the aim to enhance oil and gas production and reducing import dependency of the country.

These fields were offered through an open and transparent international competitive bidding process. The bidding was open to all, including oil companies (i.e. ONGC & OIL) and other central and state PSUs, said a PIB release.

Currently, there are 03 operational Exploration Blocks (Approximately 1,461 sqkms) under Production Sharing Contract System in Tamil Nadu where hydrocarbon exploration is going on. Under nomination regime, 31 mining leases (approximately 3,500 sq km) have been granted in the state from where 600 tonnes of oil and 30 lakh cubic meter of natural gas are produced per day.

Till date, more than 700 wells have been drilled for extraction of oil and gas in the Tamil Nadu. These active operations are not hampering agriculture in nearby areas and do not pose any known environmental impact or health hazards on living beings of the operational area.

The two contract areas, Karaikal (10.4 sq km) located in Puducherry and Neduvasal (10.0 sq km) located in Tamil Nadu awarded under DSF bidding round have an in-place volume of 4,30,000 metric tonne of oil and oil equivalent gas.

Extraction of oil and gas from sub-surface is a well-established practice and the exploration and production industry uses state-of-the-art technology for the operations and takes maximum care for environmental effects. The operators also get Environment Impact Assessment done before carrying out any drilling activities and other activities.