New Delhi, Feb 03: Government today decided to bring implementation of oil projects exceeding Rs 500 crore under its purview, Petroleum minister Ram Naik said here. A high level meeting of key cabinet ministers chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee decided that the Committee of Secretaries under the chairmanship of the Cabinet secretary, which reviews mega projects exceeding Rs 500 crore, would also review the progress of New Exploration Licencing Policy (NELP) projects after 'commerciality', when significant investment flows take place, Naik told reporters.
The one-hour meeting, where Naik made a presentation to PM about the success story of NELP, was attended by finance minister Jaswant Singh, external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha, disinvestment minister Arun Shourie and commerce and industry minister Arun Jaitley.
At present the progress of 70 oil and gas blocks awarded for exploration under three rounds of competitive bidding is being monitored by petroleum ministry and its upstream nodal agency directorate general of hydrocarbons.
Naik said the total investment in 70 blocks awarded under NELP was expected to exceed Rs 14,500 crore. Bureau Report