Important for GS Prelims – Economy
About the National Data Repository (NDR)
The National Data Repository (NDR) is an integrated, fully Government of India-owned repository of Exploration and Production (E&P) data of Indian sedimentary basins, hosted by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG). It was established to consolidate E&P data that was earlier scattered across the work centres of ONGC, Oil India Ltd. (OIL), and DGH.
Key Facts
| Establishment initiated | 28 February 2014 (Office Memorandum No. 23012/2/2013-ONG-I) |
| Launched for public | 28 July 2017 |
| Hosting agency | Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Noida, Uttar Pradesh |
| Parent Ministry | Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) |
| DGH established | 1993 |
| Secondary Data Centre (SDC) | STPI-ELITE Building, Bhubaneswar; inaugurated 4 August 2018 |
| Primary Data Centre (PDC) storage | 156 TB hard disk + 720 TB robotic tape library |
Key Features & Functions
- Assimilates, preserves and disseminates seismic and well data and other geoscientific datasets for future exploration and development.
- Offers a platform to E&P Operators, E&P Service Companies, E&P Investors, and Academia to access diverse E&P datasets.
- Supports R&D and educational institutions in utilising hydrocarbon exploration data.
- Facilitates data reporting, exchange, and trading among geoscientific agencies.
- DGH is responsible for the creation, setting up, and operation of the NDR on behalf of MoPNG.
Policy & Regulatory Framework
- NDR is planned as the first component of a broader National Knowledge Hub (NKH)/National Knowledge Centre (NKC) in the E&P domain.
- DGH implements the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), and Coal Bed Methane (CBM) policy on behalf of MoPNG.
Conclusion
The NDR, hosted by DGH under MoPNG, was initiated in 2014 and launched for public use on 28 July 2017 as India’s centralised, government-owned repository of hydrocarbon exploration and production data.
| This concept has been elaborately discussed in the following article Govt to launch National Data Repository on June 28 (IBEF) |