India's New Oilfield Regulation To Help Attract Investors, Says BP CEO

New Delhi: India's upstream oil and gas policy overhaul through a new legislation has made several improvements important for foreign investors that can help attract global players, global energy giant BP's CEO said.

Parliament last month passed a bill that amended the Oil Fields (Regulation and Development) Act of 1948 by expanding its scope to include shale oil, shale gas and coal bed methane, in addition to oil and gas, while introducing sweeping measures aimed at improving the ease of doing business as well as providing fiscal and policy stability aimed to attract domestic and international investment.

The new legislation "made several improvements that are important for foreign investors like us," BP CEO Murray Auchincloss told media in an interview. The BP CEO was in India earlier this month, during which he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. "We believe the reforms can help mitigate risks and ensure operational clarity, creating an investor-friendly environment, supporting the modernisation of India's oil and gas sector, and attracting global players," he said. He was deeply appreciative of the amendments made in the oilfield act to ease the way for increased foreign investment. He assured the Prime Minister that BP was working to support India's energy needs in line with Modi's vision of energy security for India with support from the ministry.

The new law gives policy stability and improved financial terms through a series of changes to the

decades-old act.