Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday launched the first bidding round under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) here.
Speaking at the event, the Union Minister said that the bidding process proved the principles of "More Transparency, More Reforms, Minimum Govt., Maximum Governance".
This is the first major bidding round in India after the National Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) round in 2010.
In the last financial year, the government had conducted bidding for discovered small fields (DSF) in which 31 contract areas were awarded to 22 companies, of which 15 were new entrants.
The ongoing first round of OAL, which will be closed on April 3, is set to enter into the second stage of financial bidding next week.