Page 46 - Policy Economic Report - Jan 2026

POLICY AND ECONOMIC REPORT
OIL & GAS MARKET

experts, reflecting the growing interest across the ecosystem in India’s upstream reform agenda and
investment opportunities.

In his virtual address, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri highlighted
that the recent legislative, regulatory and policy reforms mark a landmark and progressive transformation
of India’s upstream sector. He underscored that these reforms, coupled with data-led exploration
initiatives, have unlocked extensive investment opportunities, particularly in India’s offshore and frontier
areas, and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to providing a stable, transparent and globally
competitive framework to attract sustained domestic and international investment.

Key Components of the Programme

The engagements comprised:

a. A Workshop on Financing India’s E&P Growth

b. A Session on the amended Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, revised Petroleum and
Natural Gas Rules and the Model Revenue Sharing Contract (MRSC)

c. A Bid Promotion Event for Upcoming Upstream Bid Rounds

Senior officials from MoPNG and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) interacted extensively
with participants across sessions.

a. Financing India’s E&P Growth

The workshop on “Financing India’s E&P Growth” examined the readiness of India’s financing ecosystem
to support the scale, depth and continuity of upstream investment envisaged under the Government’s
expanded exploration and production programme, including initiatives such as Samudra Manthan. The
session saw active participation from global consulting firms including S&P Global, Deloitte, A.T. Kearney
and EY, who shared international perspectives on upstream financing models, risk allocation and capital
mobilisation.

Perspectives were also shared by financial institutions and insurers including the State Bank of India, New
India Assurance and Bajaj Allianz, covering risk assessment frameworks, exposure considerations, bank
guarantee structures and emerging risk-mitigation instruments such as insurance-backed surety bonds. It
was highlighted that as exploration and development activities scale up, capital requirements are
expected to rise sharply and become increasingly front-loaded, necessitating financing structures aligned
with upstream risk profiles and investment cycles.

Discussions covered:

• Existing financing practices in upstream projects

• Constraints arising from balance-sheet-based lending

• The impact of bank guarantee requirements on capital efficiency

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