Tata Petro, Essar Oil gearing up for NELP

Tata Petrodyne and Essar Oil are bidding for oil and gas blocks under the new exploration and licensing policy (NELP) VI.

Apart from oil and gas assets, both the companies would also join the fray for coal bed methane (CBM) blocks. They are currently studying the available reserves and data packages of the country's sedimentary basins.

A senior executive from Tata Petrodyne told Business Standard that the company would bid for rich gas blocks this time under NELP VI.

Sources confirmed the Essar move, but refused to divulge any further details. It is learnt that global majors such as Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips have evinced interest in tying up with Indian firms.

The last date for submitting bids for NELP VI is September 15 and the blocks will be awarded by January next year.

"Essar Oil can bid as an operator under NELP VI. Since it has experience as an operator, the company need not take the tie-up route. However, the company might look for alliances if it needs technical assistance in some blocks. In that case, consortium partner in Ratna and Cachar oil fields, Premium Oil, is likely to join hands with Essar," sources said.

Tata Petrodyne, however, cannot bid in NELP VI as an operator owing to its lack of experience in the sector. The company would have to rope in global or domestic majors which have had exposure as operator earlier.

At present, Tata Petrodyne is partnering three oil and gas blocks as a non-operator. The operators for these blocks are Hardy Exploration and Production, Cairn Energy and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

According to sources, Hardy and Cairn had shown interest to bid for blocks with Tata Petrodyne.

ONGC is the operator of Ratna oilfield, where Essar Oil and Premier are partners. In Mehsana (Gujarat) oil block and Raniganj CBM block, Essar Oil has 100 per cent ownership. The company owns two blocks in Myanmar too.

Reliance Industries and Videocon have already spotted partners to make bids under NELP. RIL is likely to form a consortium with its RPL project partner Chevron Corporation while Videcon roped in Oilex of Australia as its ally.