Public sector companies or PSUs are likely to invest Rs 3 lakh crore in hydrocarbon sector in 3 years. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) secretary Ramesh Abhishek has said that the government expects foreign direct investment in the hydrocarbon sector to pick up but the key driver will continue to be the public sector companies, which will invest Rs 3 lakh crore over the next three years.
Abhishek further said that in the last two and a half years our FDI policy has been hugely liberalised and the result has been positive. He added that the sector attracted 40 per cent more FDI in the past two and a half years than in the previous corresponding period. He said in last two and a half years we have attracted $ 129 billion of FDI, but there is a huge need for investment given that India is the third largest consumer of energy in the world.
Sashi Mukundan, Chairman CII National Committee on Hydrocarbons and BP India too had said that investment in exploration, development of discovered reserves, enhanced oil recovery schemes and technology will be Rs 2.5 lakh crore to Rs 3 lakh crore by 2022 and said that decisions like giving pricing freedom to gas produced from difficult fields like deepwater will help unlock 10-15 trillion cubic feet of reserves.