India, Aug. 9 -- India's reliance on imports for much of its crude oil requirements has landed the country in the cross-hairs of US President Donald Trump, who has penalised the country with tariffs of 25% for its trade with Russia, over and above a previous 25% levy. But more than 50 years ago, hopes of cutting this dependence on imported oil received a fillip when explorers discovered oil reserves at Bombay High in 1974, 160km off the west coast of India's financial capital, Mumbai. In August 1976, Hindustan Times wrote about the announcement of a subsequent discovery two years later in an adjoining area in Bassein and detailed exploration and production plans for the country that, at the time, raised hopes of a transformation in India's energy sources. "Petroleum minister KD Malaviya on Wednesday announced that oil had been discovered on a 'fault' structure between the offshore areas of Bombay High and Bassein," HT wrote on its front page on August 3, 1976. "While commercial exploitation of oil has already begun in Bombay High, production is likely to commence in Bassein from next year. Mr Malaviya told the Ministry's Parliamentary Consultative Committee that the discovery of yet another offshore oil source had brightened the prospects of finding more oil and gas in the country." "After Bombay High, oil had been found on the north Bassein followed by a gas strike on the Bassein south structure. Now that oil had been found in the "fault" structure lying east of Bombay High, it was reasonable to assume, Mr Malaviya hoped, that 'the pools of oil around Bombay High might be stretching for quite a long distance.'" Bassein wasn't to be the only one. Over the next few years, the basin yielded multiple commercial accumulations (Heera-Panna-Bassein block, Ratna & R-Series, Tapti, among others), establishing it as India's most prolific find. Malaviya informed the committee that the ministry was experiencing "some financial constraints" in exploring oil, and that it was for the Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry to organise the resources. The Ministry and ONGC during the time grappled with insufficient capital and limited autonomy. The Oil Industry Development Board received only a small fraction of the cess levied for exploration and production activities. Moreover, banks were reluctant to lend for risky offshore ventures, and ONGC relied heavily on foreign loans and government support for costly drilling and pipeline infrastructure. HT wrote further on what Malaviya said on this. Malaviya admitted that oil exploration of the magnitude undertaken by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) on land and offshore required huge investment. Also money had to be found for laying pipelines and other installations to transport oil. As an example, he pointed out that about Rs.100 crore would be needed to build pipelines to carry additional oil from Assam. Intensification of search for oil would necessarily be proportionate to money available to carry on this work, he said. Eminent geologists had estimated India had a great potential for oil and gas. But it had been possible to establish a recoverable reserve of only 123.05 million tonnes at the beginning of 1975. Oil exploration therefore needed to be intensified. Mr Malaviya emphasised. That call for intensification prefigures the regime changes that followed-New Exploration Licensing Policy (formulated in 1997) and more recently, the Open Acreage Licensing Policy-to widen exploration beyond ONGC/OIL....