India’s biggest oil and gas bid draws four bidders, Reliance-bp team up with ONGC

India’s largest oil and gas bid round attracted four key players, including state-owned ONGC, OIL, and private sector Vedanta Ltd. Most of the 28 blocks on offer received only two bids, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).

This bid round, the OALP-IX, covered an area of 1.36 lakh square kilometres, with blocks offered for exploration and production of oil and gas.

For the first time, the bid round saw Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner bp plc joining forces with ONGC to bid for a block in Gujarat offshore. This partnership marks a notable change, as Reliance and bp had only participated in two of the previous eight oil and gas bid rounds since 2017.

OALP-IX bidding overview

ONGC submitted bids for 14 blocks independently and teamed up with state-owned companies Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for four additional blocks. Overall, ONGC bid for 19 out of the 28 blocks offered, including the one with Reliance-bp.

Vedanta Ltd, owned by mining billionaire Anil Agarwal, placed bids for all 28 blocks, while Sun Petrochemicals Ltd submitted bids for seven areas. Of the 28 blocks, four attracted three bids each, with the remaining blocks receiving two bids, one of which was from Vedanta Ltd.

Read more: Oil Ministry is preparing for OALP Round 10: What is Open Acreage Licensing Programme

Under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), blocks are awarded based on the highest revenue share offered by companies and their proposed work programmes. This bid round included nine onshore blocks, eight shallow-water blocks, and 11 ultra-deepwater blocks across eight sedimentary basins.

The government launched the OALP in 2017 to encourage oil and gas exploration, offering marketing and pricing freedom under a revenue-sharing model.

Reliance and bp, long-term partners in the KG-D6 deepsea block, continue to produce 30 million standard cubic meters per day of gas. The government hopes that increased exploration will bolster India’s domestic oil and gas production, helping to curb its $222 billion oil import bill.

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