Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules 2025 amended to ease business and operations, informs Hardeep Puri

Seeking to strengthen infrastructure for domestic exploration and production, Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules (2025) have been amended to “offer ease of business and operations, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri informed Thursday. Among the more important of the amendments, it provides for granting long duration leases, that is, up to thirty years from the present twenty years, more importantly, which can be extended to the “life of the field”. This allows a potential lessee to make an informed investment decision for a longer horizon.

Further, those availing the lease, will have the right to carry out all types of mineral oil operation with just a single petroleum lease.

They would be however required to make an annual declaration to the government of the installed, utilised and excess capacity of the infrastructure facilities they own. The rules permit lessees to jointly develop or share infrastructure facilities by mutual agreement.

However, the notified rules enhance the penalties for contravention of rules to ₹25 lakh, and ₹10 lakh for each day in case of continued contravention.

The latest notification replaces Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules (1959).