NEW DELHI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - India has the potential tounlock gas reserves of at least 10-15 trillion cubic feet (tcf)by 2022 on the basis of discoveries made so far, Sashi Mukundan,country head for BP India said in a conference on Tuesday.
This production requires up to 3 trillion rupees (about $45billion) investment by 2022 and can generate revenue of 2.5trillion rupees, said Mukundan, who also heads the energycommittee of industry lobby group the Confederation of IndianIndustries.
"This domestic production can substitute 10 trillion rupeesworth of imports," he added. India imports about 80 percent ofits oil needs and about 45 percent of its gas consumption.
Narendra Modi's government in March simplified licensingrules and offered price incentives to recover gas from difficultoffshore fields, giving a fresh lease of life to several naturalgas blocks discovered in the country.
The government had said that the changes to the policiescould attract as much as $40 billion into the country.
Reliance Industries, controlled by billionaireMukesh Ambani, then issued tenders for starting development workin its deepwater assets in the Bay of Bengal. BP Plc is a30 percent partner of Reliance in these assets.
Mukundan said on Tuesday that India's current policyenvironment is helping attract investment in the upstream sectorand could help double the share of gas in the country's energymix to 15 percent by 2030.
Gas accounts for about 8 percent of India's energy mix,while oil accounts for more than a quarter.
India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in May that thecountry will gradually move to a gas based economy.
($1 = 66.8427 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Writing by Promit Mukherjee; Editingby Keith Weir)