More reforms in offing to raise private participation in oil, gas fields, says Oil Secy

New Delhi: Oil Secretary Tarun Kapoor on Wednesday hinted at more reforms to raise the level of private participation in upstream oil and gas exploration and production, but remained non-committal on the industry’s demand for cutting levies to make the business attractive during a low price regime. Talking to reporters at the end of the India Energy Forum of CERAWeek, he said companies will have to learn to live with low prices.

“There was a demand from various upstream companies for a reduction in cess and royalty. That was a demand that was there. To accept or not to accept is up to the government which takes a decision considering overall resource requirement (of the economy),” he said.