CCI gives 30 days to get oil blocks out of MoD fire

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) on Tuesday asked the oil and defence ministries to sort out the issues concerning pending defence clearances for several oil and gas blocks and report back to the committee within a month. After the first meeting of the newly set up panel headed by the Prime Minister to fast-track big infrastructure projects, information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari told reporters that the panel discussed oil & gas projects “extensively” and “fruitfully” and a “holistic overview” was taken to expedite clearances.

Oil and gas projects worth $13.5 billion are facing hurdles for security concerns, as several blocks including Reliance Industries\' producing KG-D6 gas fields, where it is struggling to ramp up output, fall within the no-go area of the defence ministry.

It is learnt that the defence ministry had earlier agreed to give clearance to seven offshore oil and gas blocks that were previously classified as no-go areas, giving much-needed relief to energy majors BHP Billiton, Cairn India and state-owned ONGC in pursuing their hydrocarbon hunt in sensitive Indian waters. The clearance came with the rider that these areas should be made available for naval exercises and firings with a week\'s notice. The RIL-owned D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin, however, continues to be a no-go area as it is close to a strategic naval base that was approved in 2008, eight years after the block was licensed to RIL.

If the CCI directive is complied with by the oil and defence ministries, it would benefit several projects