“The bill also does not alter the existing level-playing field and offers no preference to either the private or the public sector,” the minister said.Among others, the bill aims to decriminalise some of the provisions of the original Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948, by introducing “penalties, adjudication by an adjudicating authority and appeal as against the order of adjudicating authority”.Besides, it seeks to introduce ‘petroleum lease’ and expands the definition of mineral oils to include crude oil, natural gas, petroleum, condensate, coal bed methane, oil shale, shale gas, shale oil, tight gas, tight oil and gas hydrate, with a view to raising domestic output and cutting reliance on imports, he said.Congress leader Manish Tewari, while initiating the discussion, said the draft law “lacks vision and roadmap”. Referring to oil imports, Tewari claimed that India was not “future ready”. “What is required is a roadmap to make India energy sufficient, which unfortunately is completely missing. What is the government planning to do to encourage independent oil explorers? Is there anything in the bill that incentivises them,” he asked.
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