Focus on exploratory activity in difficult, less explored areas: Veerappa Moily

India needs to focus its exploratory activities in the difficult and relatively less explored areas hitherto known to be 'uneconomical' and technically 'unviable', Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Veerappa Moily said here today.

"The need of the hour is to focus exploratory activities in the difficult and relatively less explored areas like Mesozoics sitting beneath the Trap and frontier areas which were hitherto known to be uneconomical and technicallyunviable", he said.

He was delivering the inaugural address at the 10th Biennial International conference and Exposition organised by the Society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG).

Mr Moily said the Planning Commission has estimated that energy supply has to grow at 6.5 per cent per year in the 12th plan period to achieve a GDP growth of nine per cent.

Since hydrocarbons constitute the lion's share in theenergy basket, challenges before petroleum scientists and engineers is immense in terms of bridging the demand-supply gap, he said.

"We have sustained a constant economic growth, but for all our technological advances, we are still an energy deficient nation', Mr Moily said.

The minister said the only way India can progress in today's world of diminishing resources and energy politics was by changing its outlook towards energy generation.

World energy demand was expected to expand by around 45 per cent between now and 2030; an average rate of increase of 1.6 per cent per year, most of which would comprise of fossil energy.

Due to its low carbon footprint, natural gas is likely to emerge as the fastest-growing fossil fuel to replace coal, oil and nuclear in many markets and play the bridge fuel in the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, he said.

Mr Moily noted that India is undergoing major economic and industrial reforms to integrate its economy with the global economy. With increasing urbanisation, area of activities for exploration was getting reduced.

Hence, there was need to be 'absolutely precise' in deciding exploration targets, he said.

With the Indian Shale Gas and oil policy approved in the recent past and with dynamism of innovation and implementation of new technologies and out-of-box ideas, the Indian Petroleum industries in general and geoscientists in particular thus shoulder a greater responsibility in the foreseeable future.

About 1000 participants from India and abroad are attending the conference, the theme of which is 'Changing Landscape in Geophysical Innovations.'